The Princess, the Dragon, and the Dandelion
by eko24
Summary: After the deaths of Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia, Fairy Tail reluctantly learns how to live without them, but what will happen when the young mage who killed them confronts Fairy Tail a few months later?
1. Chapter 1

**This part is written in Lucy's perspective. The story will switch perspectives a few times but I will be sure to warn you whenever it happens so there is no confusion! Anyway, I hope you guys like this story! It's a bit long, but I'm confident that it doesn't suck. Please leave comments and all that to let me know what you think!**

**I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.**

**Blah blah blah... Okay I'm done. Enjoy!**

* * *

I spot him plummeting toward the ground and my lips part in a desperate cry. "Natsu!" I scream, reaching my arms out. "Natsu! Hold on!" I will catch him.

I squint to see his face. He isn't even trying to break his fall. I know he could easily shoot fire at the ground or do something like that to soften his fall. Why isn't he doing that?

I catch his face as his body spins, facing me. he's knocked out.

And green.

"You're motion sick falling off a mountain?!" I ask incredulously, picking up my pace.

Almost there.

But my legs can't carry me fast enough.

No. I will catch him. I _will_.

When I'm close enough I bend my knees, propelling myself upward and forward. I reach out to grab him and hold on to him. His momentum hits me full force, but I do manage to slow him down before we land.

In a pile of pink fluff.

"I'm sorry! It took me a while to get here! I brought myself here when i realized what was going on! I'm sorry!" Aries squeaks softly from beside us.

"You rock, Aries! Thanks a lot!" I praise her, panting from the andrenaline rush. I grab Natsu's collar and drag him off the fluff and onto the ground next to Aries.

"Is he alright?" Aries asks me, concerned.

"He won't be when I'm done with him," I promise her and glare at his sleeping form.

"Just call if you need me again," Aries offers before going back to the Celestial Spirit World.

I watch her go and then look back down at Natsu. I pinch his nose closed and wait while he starts grunting. His eyes pop open in alarm and he swats my hand away.

"You're an idiot!" I exclaim before he can say a word.

"Nice to see you too. What're you doing here?" he asks curiously, jumping to his feet. "I told gramps I was doin' a solo job."

"You couldn't even wait for Happy to come back from his delivery job?" I inquire darkly, looking up at him. "You took a job vanquishing vulcans on your own."

"That's right," he tells me. He puts his hand on the back of his neck, stretching his muscles a bit. "I took care of most of 'em! One of them snuck up behind me and managed to knock me out and another one pushed me off'a the moutain top," he tells me. "But those were two of the last three…"

"Don't you remember what happened to Macao when he took a job like this by himself? We barely got him out of that alive! And that's after we fought him thinking it was just another vulcan! What if one of them had stolen your body?" I ask him, my anger building. I'd been so worried when I heard he'd gone alone… and when I saw him plummeting down to the ground… I thought for sure… "You're a moron!" I exclaim, finally, pushing the thought out of my head.

"There's three left… and there's a few women up there, captive," Natsu informs me seriously, changing the subject.

"Well lets go take care of it _together_," i tell him, emphasizing the final word. "I have some anger to work through anyway."

"At what?" he asks as we head up the mountain together.

"You! I'm so mad I can't see straight!" I inform him.

"Why? Were you worried about me?" he asks me, looking back at me.

I blush, turning away so he won't see. "I was just mad you went alone! We're team mates and partners, we're supposed to take jobs like this together!"

He shrugs. "I figured I could take care of it. There were just ten of them." A cold breeze blows some snow around us and I hug my arms, cursing myself that I didn't wear something warmer. He takes notice and stops so I can catch up. "You're slow," he informs me.

"It's freezing," I inform him.

The next thing I know he hefts me onto his back. "I don't want you slowing us down, not when those women need us," he says, picking up his speed, holding my legs so I don't fall off. I have my arms tight around his neck, but I still feel like I might slip off with how fast he's running.

We reach the summit in ten minutes from all the way at the base of the mountain. I summon Loke and Scorpio to fight alongside Natsu, avoiding Taurus so Natsu won't mistake him for a Vulcan like he has three times before. Scorpio is at a bit of a disadvantage in this climate, but he's better than nothing and willing to fight despite his disadvantage as long as he's back in time to meet Aquarius for a date.

I find the three women crouched against a snow mound, cowering from the fight unfolding in front of them. I creep over to them, trying to remain unseen by the vulcans so they won't approach me. I grip my whip just in case I need to defend myself.

"Are you three alright?" I ask them, looking them over. All of their clothes are tattered, and I can see some obvious bruising. If there had been ten of them, I'm just glad the damage isn't worse.

"Please, those monsters are horrible," one sobs to me, clutching at my shirt desperately.

I'm trying to sooth and comfort them when I hear one of the vulcans grunting about how a new woman showed up. He's advancing on me, a stupid grin on his face. I stand up to face him, holding my arm out to block him from the women behind me.

"You're disgusting," I shout at him, cracking my whip on him, letting him get tangled up, and Natsu kicks him so he loses his balance and falls off the edge of the summit.

Loke and Scorpio finish off the last vulcan and I send the two back, turning back to the three women.

"Can you all walk?" I ask them gently.

One of them can't — her leg is broken. Natsu carries her on his back and I walk with the other two back down the mountain.

"I could have sworn there was a warning posted for mountain climbers to stay off the mountain until we took care of the vulcans," Natsu says thoughtfully at one point during the climb down.

One of the women walking with me laughs sheepishly. "Well, yeah there was. It was posted two weeks ago, and usually when notices like that are posted they come down after about a week so we figured someone just forgot to take it down. You see, we're photographers and we were shooting for a feature on Mount Hakobe. We planned on just staying near the bottom for todays shoot. We were going to ask tomorrow if the notice was still valid before going back tomorrow to take some shots from further up. Today while we were there, some of those monsters caught us and took us up to the top where there were more of those terrible things waiting!"

"Really taught us not to chance stuff like that," the woman on Natsu's back admits. "We're sorry if we caused you trouble."

"Thanks so much for saving us!" the third woman exclaims. "Would you mind if we took some photos of you while we're taking nature photos? I'd like to send the story to Sorcerer Weekly!"

Natsu and I agree to it and the three women commense taking photos. Even the woman on Natsu's back managed to take her nature photos, scolding Natsu if he accidentally moved and ruined a shot. We drop them off at the nearest hospital and I hail a car to take Natsu and I back to Magnolia.

"Serves you right," I tell him when we start moving. I watch his back as he starts blowing chunks out the window. "You shouldn't have taken that job on your own. It was stupid."

"I'm sorry," he whimpers between hurlings.

"You should be. I'm not even going to feel sorry for you for having motion sickness," I tell him, stubborn.

"I'm sorry," he repeats, looking back at me, startling me with his sincerely sad eyes. He turns back around to puke again and my disposition softens.

I reach over and rub his back. "I forgive you. I can't stay mad at you, you know that? Hang in there, we're almost home!"

Back in Magnolia Natsu jumps out of the car before it even stopped moving. I jump out after him and pull him off the ground as I start walking back to my apartmwnt.

"I need to change before we go back to the guild hall. You need to clean up the mess you made in my kitchen," I tell him. "I'm done cleaning up after you!"

"Happy's the one who did it!"Natsu protests but lets me pull him along with me.

"Too bad. He's not here so I'm deeming it your responsibility," I tell him.

"You got any food?" he asks hopefully.

I chuckle at that, "I might," I tell him coyly. "Not a lot. I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. I know there's a box of cookies or something in the pantry."

Nearing my apartment, I notice someone standing outside the building, next to the canal. Natsu notices too and says, "who's that guy?"

I squint to get a better look and my eyes widen. "No way!" I squeal gleefully and sprint toward him. "Oliver?!"


	2. Chapter 2

Oliver looks up at the sound of my voice and a great big, eye crinkling, toothy smile spreads across his lips. He holds open his arms for me to embrace him. "It's been a while, Lucky Lucy," he greets me, pulling back to look at me.

"Eight years?" I ask him, completely guessing, I have no idea when I stopped seeing him. Plus I have to factor in the seven years I was on Tenrou. It was probably longer than eight years, now that I think about it.

"Longer! You look like you've barely aged a day since I saw you last," he tells me earnestly.

I laugh, inwardly thinking about it. I think I saw him last right after I turned 16. Considering everything that happened, I think I've only physically grown a year or two. "Funny story, actually."

Natsu reaches us and studies Oliver with guarded curiosity. I step away from Oliver and look to Natsu. "Oliver, this is my team mate in Fairy Tail, and the one who brought me to the guild so I could join, Natsu Dragneel." I introduce the pink haired dragon slayer.

"I've read about you in Sorcerer Weekly," Oliver informs Natsu, holding his hand out for Natsu to shake.

I laugh, "Sorcerer Weekly likes to report on how destructive he is but they don't talk about all the good he does in the process," I tell Oliver.

"And you're Oliver," Natsu says, giving me a look like, _who is this guy? get to the point._

I look back at Oliver. "He's a childhood friend of mine. Our families worked closely together in business. We used to run around and play while they were having meetings and stuff like that," I tell Natsu. "But, Oliver, how did you find me? Did you get my address from someone from my family's old estate?"

He shakes his head. "Like I said, I read Sorcerer Weekly; I knew you used to love that magazine when we were kids. I saw an article featuring you and it said you belonged to Fairy Tail of Magnolia Town. I paid a visit there earlier today and Mirajane, the one who's always in the centerfold, told me you were out but you'd be back. She gave me your address," he explains.

"Mira can be so helpful," Natsu says. I'm sure Oliver can't detect it, but I can hear irritation in his voice. I glance at him curiously for a moment.

"Uh, come in, Oliver. I need to clean up after the job Natsu and I were just on, but we can catch up a bit," I tell him and let the three of us into my flat.

I dig around my kitchen for the box of cookies and pour the last of the milk into three glasses and bring it all out to the table. Natsu does the littlle cleaning he has to do and the three of us sit down to chat. Natsu keeps shooting Oliver dark looks when he thinks nobody is looking.

"So Oliver, what have you been up to?" I ask him, shooting Natsu a warning look to make him stop acting likee a jerk.

Oliver shrugs, swirling a cookie in his glass of milk. "Father has been training me to take over the company and the estate."

"Oh, sounds like fun," I say almost sarcastically.

He laughs. "Not at all. Guess it's necessary. He's talking about a merger with another company."

I frown. "Does merger still mean arranged marriage?" I ask him, remembering when my father tried to set something like that up for me.

Oliver nods. "Indeed it does. I'm surprised your father didn't try marrying you off."

"Oh, he did," I assure him. "I refused. I told him off years ago when he attacked Fairy Tail to get me back. It was the last straw for me."

"I didn't know he'd done that," Oliver says, surprised. He scowls, "speaking of your father… I don't know if you'd patched things up before he passed, but still, my condonences."

I shrug. "Thank you, Oliver. Anyway, do you know who you'll marry if your father merges with another company?" I ask him, turning the subject back to him.

He shakes his head. "No clue. Do you remember when we thought we'd marry when we were kids? Even though our companies were already merged?"

I laugh. "Oh yeah! I forgot about that! We'd run around calling each other 'Honey', 'darling', and 'Dear' and I'd sing wedding songs. I'm sure we drove the adults crazy."

"Yeah, sounds pretty annoying," Natsu agrees with me, resting his head on the table, studying my face. "Did you two ever date for real?" He asks curiously.

I shake my head, and look at him, feeling confused. I also feel like I might slap him. _Why does he care if I ever dated Oliver?_ "No. We were never interested in each other like that. We played around when we were kids but we never thought about dating each other when we were teenagers."

"Speak for yourself," Oliver laughs nervously.

Natsu looks up at him sharply. "Is that right?" he asks him.

"You wanted to date me?" I ask, taken aback completely. He'd never said anything like that! "_When?_"

"Uh, when I was a kid I had a crush on you and it just kept growing," he tells me, blushing. "When I was 15 I decided I wanted to marry you for real one day. I always… wanted to help you and be around you, especially after your mom passed away and you pushed everyone away."

I stare at him, at a loss of words. Standing up, I grab onto the back of my chair to make sure I won't fall over from surprise. "I'm so sorry! I never realized!" i exclaim.

"You left before I could get up the courage to ask you out,"

"If I'd known… I would have been able to let you down easy without disappearing on you," I tell him thoughtfully, feeling bad that I did that to him. I realize too late that what I just said probably just dumped salt into the wound.

Natsu snorts, I look over to catch a smirk on his face before he drops it and clears his face of expression to make himself look bored. I clench my fist, instead of slapping him I'll punch him and throw him on a boat for a few hours.

"Don't worry about it, Lucy," Oliver assures me. He gets up and looks me in the eye. "I have some business I have to take care of; father said the only way he'd let me off training to come see you is if I did some networking while I'm here in Magnolia. I'll be here for a few days. Would you like to meet up tonight for dinner? We could catch up some more."

"I'd love that," I tell him honestly.

"I'll meet you in front of your place at 7, then," he tells me before looking down at Natsu, holding out his hand. "Good to meet you, Natsu Dragneel."

Natsu takes his hand, "you too."

Oliver takes his hand away and gives me one last look before leaving.

I wait until he's a safe distance away before turning to glare at Natsu. "What was that?" I demand.

"What was what?" he asks.

"You're attitude!"

"My attitude?" he asks, playing dumb.

"You were so rude! What was that for?!" I press.

"I have no idea what you're talkin' about." He shrugs, setting me over the edge.

I point at the door. "Just go outside and wait for me or go to the guild hall by yourself!"

He silently gets up and goes to the door, slamming it behind him. I groan, turning toward my bathroom to clean up. I change and check my reflection one last time in the mirror before reclipping my keys and my whip to my belt.


	3. Chapter 3

When I go outside, I find that Natsu chose to wait for me. The two of us walk together in silence toward the guild. I don't inquire further about his bad mood toward Oliver. I don't care, anyway. He can do whatever he wants.

"What's with the bad mood all of the sudden?" I burst when we enter the guild hall. I grit my teeth, hating that it's bugging me so much.

"That guy looks like a creep," Natsu says simply. "I don't like him."

"Why?" I demand. "And you don't know him! Why don't you like him?"

"I already told you," he tells me simply.

"You left out the explanation," I point out irritably.

He ignores me and walks ahead to the bar where Master Makarov is sitting with Macao, Cana, Wakaba, and Lisanna. Mirajane is behind the counter with Kinana. "Hey, Gramps! I finished that job."

Makarov looks up at him and his eyes flicker to me before he responds. "That's great! How'd it go? Lucy was worried when she heard you went alone."

"Ah, she had no reason to be," Natsu yawns, probably hoping I won't mention the falling off the mountain thing. I snort, rolling my eyes. He wishes.

"Thought you weren't a liar?" I look at Makarov. "There's a lot that can't kill him, but being thrown off a mountain unconscious, I'm pretty sure would have killed him."

Macao and Wakaba start laughing. Natsu gives me a sideways glare and I smirk in response. "Whatever," he grumbles before going off to sit with Happy, Carla, and Pantherlily, who'd been gone on delivery jobs since there's been a lull in big group job requests lately.

I stick my tongue out at his back and turn to sit down in front of Mirajane. She, Cana, and Lisanna all look at me curiously.

"Something going on?" Cana asks me finally.

"Natsu's being an asshole," I tell her quietly, though I know he can still hear me. Good.

"Why's that?" Lisanna asks as Mirajane pours me a soda. She waves away my money and I look to Makarov, he doesn't seem to care.

I lift the glass, swishing the purple soda around and watching the bubbles. I look up and look at Mirajane. "You know that guy who came in asking for me? You gave him my address?" I ask her. "Well Natsu and I were going back to my place after the Mount Hakobe thing and he was standing there waiting for me. So I invited him in to catch up a little and Natsu was totally rude to him!"

"is that so?" Wakaba asks.

"Wonder why that is," Macao wonders aloud.

"He shouldn't be rude to an old friend of yours," Lisanna remarks. "What's that guy going to think? it makes Fairy Tail look bad when one of our members acts like that for no reason."

"He seemed like a nice guy when he was here," Cana tells me. "He seemed so excited to see his old friend. It was sweet."

I shrug, "yeah, we used to be good friends. I haven't seen any of my old friends from when I was young. I lost a lot of them after my mom died. Oliver stuck around but eventually I stopped seeing even him."

Nobody has a response for that. I laugh, "sorry, that was a bit depressing. Anyway, I want to make it up to him and maybe become friends again. We're catching up some more over dinner tonight," I tell them. "Maybe Natsu will calm down and explain himself tomorrow."

"I'm sure he will," Mirajane assures me in her usual chippeer manner before going to help Kinana with washing dishes.

I drain the soda and get up, spotting the request board. "I need rent money," I groan and walk over to the board, looking through the jobs.

One fighting a flock of bird-like demons, no. That sounds like I'd need - No. No I won't do that one.

A job finding a lost treasure at a mansion in some town on the other side of Fiore. Why is this request all the way out here? Like anyone here would go so far out just for 100,000 J

A job vanquishing one forest vulcan that's terrorizing the forest east of Magnolia. Perfect. It's close and there only one so I can manage it. I tear the request down and take it back to the bar for Master to see.

"Didn't you just yell at Natsu for doing a job like this alone?" he inqures.

"This one isn't in a mountain and there's only one," I point out. "It's totally different!"

"Fine, go for it, Lucy," he tells me, sounding bored. He turns away, taking a swig of whatever booze he's drinking. It looks like Whiskey to me.

I pocket the request form and march out of the guild hall, not wanting to sit around waiting for the daily brawl to start. I'm better off going home to get ready for tonight, though I have hours before I'll need to be ready.

When I get home, I go straight to my desk to write to my mother. It's something I like to do when anything significant happens in my life. Sometimes I go to her grave and read them to her, which helps remind me of what I've been through in the past.

Hey, Mama,

You'll never guess who showed up at my doorstep today. Oliver! Remember him? We used to be so close when we were kids, we'd play together while our dads were in meetings. He said he'd found out I was in Fairy Tail and came to see me again.

But Natsu was with me when I spotted Oliver. He was so rude! I can't understand why. he just kept glaring at Oliver whenever he thought nobody was looking and asking rude questions and making mean comments. Finally I asked him what his deal was when Oliver left, but he wouldn't even tell me!

Whatever. I'll interrogate him tomorrow. Tonight I'm seeing Oliver for dinner so we can catch up some more. I'm kind of worried. I found out today that Oliver had a crush on me growing up an I never noticed! Did you? I hope not. How embarrassing, having your parents notice that kind of thing…

I really hope nothing awkward happens at dinner. I just want to talk with an old friend and maybe stay in touch with someone from my old life. If I have him, I'll have one person from the old life back, which would be nice…

Anyway, I need to go get ready for dinner. Cross your fingers, mama, maybe with luck this will go well.

I promise I'll come visit you and daddy soon.

~Love Lucy

I fold the letter and put it in an envelop, seal it, and put it away with the others. "I'm going to need a bigger box for these," I note.

I look at my clock and stand up, deciding now is as good a time as any to start getting ready.

I go into my closet first thing to find an outfit for tonight. I pull a new dress I bought the other day. "I wondered where I would wear this. Guess I could use it tonight."

I look at the dress. It's pink, the same pink color of Natsu's hair. I thought it was a pretty dress, and I thought it was funny how it matched his hair so i bought it. I hadn't realized until after I had it bought and stored in my closet that I wouldn't have anywhere to wear it. I've been hoping something would come up. Sure, I didn't expect it to be Oliver, but he's something.

"I hope he doesn't get the wrong idea if I wear this," I say aloud, looking down at the dress. It kind of looks casual, but it is meant for dates and formal gatherings. I shrug it off and go into the bathroom. "If I want to dress up, I shouldn't have to worry about giving people the wrong idea," i tell my reflection. "I can dress however I want. It doesn't matter what others think of it."

I let myself soak in the tub for an hour before drying off, dressing, and calling Cancer to do my hair for me.

"Nothing too big, okay? I'm just meeting with an old friend," I tell him, sitting down in front of my vanity. "Nothing fancy, I mean. I'm just meeting with a friend for dinner."

"I don't do anything small," Cancer tells me. 'baby."

When I'm all ready, I check the clock and see it's ten to seven. I clip my keys and my whip to my belt as usual and go outside to wait for Oliver, hushing the butterflies in my stomach and crossing my fingers behind my back. I'm hoping for no awkwardness.


	4. Chapter 4

Oliver picked me up right on time, rounding the corner right at seven. "I found this restaurant with a cool view of the canal. I know that must seem boring to you, since you see it every day from your room, but it looks like a nice place and the sunset will look pretty over the water."

"I bet it's great," I assured him as we started walking through town. He lead the way, of course, and eventually we came to a seafood restaurant I once visited with the girls of Fairy Tail on a girls night out.

It had been fun: Dinner, a bath, and then drinks at my place since the owner of Fairy Hills wasn't fond of drinking. My place had been totally trashed after that. Erza's an angry drunk, paired with Juvia's an emotional drunk, Wendy accidentally burped a sky dragon roar, and Laki just felt like breaking something because she thought it was ugly. Cana and Mirajane were both the only dignified drinkers, though Mirajane did blow off some steam by fighting Erza on my roof.

I laughed at the memory and told Oliver about it when he asked why I was laughing. He laughed at the story and we went inside to sit down.

I've never liked fish that much, to Happy's dismay, but I love shellfish. I ordered a platter of shellfish with a salad and he ordered the same with a bottle of wine for us.

"So tell me about Fairy Tail," he suggested when we got the wine. "And tell me, why is it spelt like tail, like animal tails and not tale like story? Do fairies even have tails?" he wondered.

I laugh out loud. "You pretty much answered your own question!" I exclaim with a giggle. I explained the reason to him and he laughed, finding it silly he asked in the first place.

I told him about some of the jobs I've gone on and about my friends at Fairy Tail. "And since that happened with the Infinity Clock, We've been spending all of our time on jobs and training to make up for all the time we've been M.I.A," I concluded.

"Fascinating," he remarked. "And your friends all seem pretty interesting. Like Cana, she just sits around and drinks all the time?"

"She's one of the strongest mages in the guild," I informed him. "She even uses one of the three biggest spells Fairy Tail has when she needs it."

"Wow. And that Gray person, you say he takes off his clothes a lot? That's kind of creepy."

"Oh, yeah it's annoying, but I got used to it. He's another powerhouse. He's an Ice Mage who can do some amazing Ice Make magic. He's on the same team with me and Natsu and Erza," i told him thoughtfully. "And Happy, but Happy's mainly just Natsu's best friend and partner."

"You're talkiing about them like they're family," he noted, finishing off his last piece of crab.

I nodded once. "Fairy Tail is my family. I love them all more than anything."

He studied me for a moment before averting his gaze, pouring me more wine. "I'm happy you've found a new place to call home," he said, sounding almost sad.

"So are you excited to take over your company from your father?" I asked him, trying to change the subject, to change that sad expression.

He shrugged. "It's not something I care much for. What I'd really like to do is become a writer. Or anything else, really. I've always hated business, to tell you the truth."

"Oh yeah! We used to write a lot together, remember? I never stopped writing, I'm glad you still love it too!" I told him happily. Finally, common ground that had nothing to do with his fortune and my guild.

We talked some more about writing and finished off the wine. When we're done he reached out to pay the bill and I grabbed my wallet. "How much was it?" I asked him. "I'm paying half."

"No you're not," he informed me, laying down the money in the tray the waitress brought. "My treat. I came and I asked you to dinner, so I should pay, right?"

"But it's not like this is a date," I countered. "Even if it was, I'd want to pay my way. I don't like the idea of someone paying for me."

He shook his head, "it's final," he insisted as the waitress took the bill away.

I sighed and resolveed to slip the money into his pocket later on. Cana taught me how to pick pocket like a pro. This is just reverse pick pocketing.

We left the restaurant and stood outside for a moment just to enjoy the gorgeous sunset over the canal. "I'll see you around, Oliver," I said to him and moved in for a hug goodbye.

He reached out and stopped me. "Do you want to go for a walk?" he asked quickly, nervous.

I hid my concern at that. This is feeling more and more like he thinks it's a date, I thought. Despite the discomfort, I nodded my head. I'm so bad at saying no.

he took my hand and I didn't protest or pull away. He lead me through Magnolia, slowly, so we could enjoy the night time scenery. The city is always so pretty at night. He finally lead me into Magnolia Park and the two of us sat down on a bench to admire the cherry blossoms.

So here we are. I'm thinking back on everything that has happened tonight and I' totally confident that he thinks this is some kind of date now. I shouldn't have let him bring me to the park,. What was I thinking?!

We're both quiet for a while. I don't really have anything to say, and I really hope he doesn't have anything to say either. I'm probably getting myself worked up for nothing, like I did that one time with Natsu when all he ended up wanting was Virgo to dig up some stupid I don't remember what. I really need to relax about this sort of thing. Oliver is just an old friend and he's here to get back in touch with me. He's here so we can be friends again.

"Lucy," he says out of the blue, standing up. He looks down at me and I look up. he looks like he might pee his pants now. What's he so worked up about?

Then he does the unthinkable. he gets down on one knee.

ONE KNEE, I squeal internally, begging him to stand up. I hold my composure so I don't let on that I'm freaking out.

For one thing, the whole getting down on one kneee thing is so corny. I've always thought it was silly when people did it to propose.

The wind around us picks up, and it's a warm wind. it feels good. I stare at Oliver, waiting for him to say something.

"Lucy, you know how my father wants me to marry some daughter of some other company? I don't care about any girls I've seen, I don't care at all about the company, and I really don't want to run it."

"Oh," i start but he holds up his hand to stop me.

"But I would do all of it, take on the company and estate, run things to make money if I had someone I loved who I could make that money for. Lucy, you're that person. you already know that I've loved you since we were kids. i don't care that you were frozen in time and you're physically younger than me now by 7 years. I just want you to be with me. This is why I came to Magnolia, so I could ask you to be my wife."

I stare blankly at him and feel my cheeks growing hot with anxiety and confusion. "No!" I blurt eloquently. "No, I can't do that. I'm so sorry, Oliver. But I need to tell you… If you don't want to live that life, don't. Go do whatever you want to do, forget what your dad wants and what that society says you should do. You should do what you want. I'm sorry if what you want to do is marry me, because my answer is no. I couldn't do that."

"Why not?" he asks me, sounding determined, hurt, almost angry. "Are you in love with one of those guys in Fairy Tail?"

"I'm not ready for marriage! And to be honest, I don't think we're compatible. And we haven't even dated or anything. You just showed up out of the blue and did this. I love my life right now and I could never give that up just to get married to somebody that I used to know when I was an heiress and a kid."

He takes that in and looks down dejectedly. He gets back up to his feet and looks down at me. "I see you've made up your mind. It's fine."

I study his features and find pain in his eyes, though he's smiling to try to mask it. "Oliver, I'm sure you'll find someone else to fall in love with," I assure him.

He grins bitterly. "I really wish it was you."

I think about it and scowl. He'd said he'd liked me since we were kids Could it be he only likes me now because he never let himself experience other relationships and romances? Was he always fixated on me? I'm afraid to ask so I decide not to. it's not really my business. "Oliver, I'm sure another girl will be a lot better for you than I ever could be. Trust me, I'm more trouble than I'm worth."

"Not true, but I'll leave it there. I'm sure you're just trying to make me feel better about being rejected… twice in one day. Uh, I can walk you home now if you want." he sounds dejeected and hurt, and like he just wants to go home and forget this ever happened.

Ditto. I'm so frazzled, I could really use Cana's favorite vice. I shake my head, no. "I'm going to sit out here for a while, and I might hit some shops beforre they close. I'll see you around, Oliver."

He turns to leave, walks a few steps, and looks back at me. "You promise to at least come and visit?" he asks me.

"And you're welcome to visit here any time so we can hang out," I promise him.

He smiles, waves, and leaves the park without another word.

I groan inwardly, putting my head in my hands. "That was the worst," I grumble, staring at the ground. "The absolute worst."

The bushes rustle nearby and I look up, startled. Is someone there? I wonder. I get up to look from another angle and spot pink spikes poking up from behind the bushes. "Oh, really?" I groan.


	5. Chapter 5

I walk around to the other side of the bush to find Natsu sitting, watching me, almost sullenly. "What the hell?" I ask him, my hands on my hips. "You're spying on me?"

"That guy's a creep."

You're a creep." I retort. "And that isn't very nice at all!" I exclaim. "I feel horrible about all that. Why are you here?"

"I just said why," he insists. "I get a bad feeling about him and I wanted to make sure you were okay!"

I drop my hands and sit down next to him behind the bushes, not minding that the dress is getting damp and dirty. "I feel bad about what happened. I'm not physically hurt but my emotional being just took a major beating," I admit.

"You said no," he says, almost pensively.

"Well yeah! I can't risk getting roped back into that life again. No thank you," A bit of defiance leaks through my remorse for hurting Oliver. I welcome defiance. "I mean that life suckeed, Natsu."

"You never wanted to be with him even a little? he was saying all those things about likin' you. You didn't return his feelings?"

"Why do you care about that?" I ask him, looking up at him sharply. It's weird. Natsu never seemed to be bothered by anything like this.

He's silent for a while, watching me. I can almost see… anxiety? is there anxiety on Natsu Dragneel's face? Fear, even? I blink a few times to make sure I'm not seeing things. "Lucy, I think I love you."

I jump at that, taken WAY aback by that statement. Is he joking? Where are the hidden cameras? Are Gray, Elfman, Gajeel, Jet, and Droy hiding around waiting to jump out and start laughing with Natsu, while Reedus is painting my reaction right now?!

I look around, apprehensive. Though, it wouldn't make sense. Gajeel wouldn't find a prank like this funny, why would he be here?

"Lucy, did you hear me?" Natsu asks, his voice shaking.

"You - you said, what?" I ask, sounding so stupid. My brain isn't working, and at the same time it's racing to process everything.

"I love you!" he says with more conviction. "Since that stupid Bora thing! I think I've loved you since then! Why do you think I brought you to Fairy Tail? But I didn't know it was love then, I just thought that I thought you were a nice person so I brought you! Luce, say something," he pleads, obviously freaking out. his eyes are wide, his expression wild in a way I've never seen before.

I stare at him, mouth agap, words failing me. I can hear him, I can process what he's saying, but it's not fully sinking in. Natsu Dragneel loving someone? Sure, it's possible. But he's such a kid most of the time. He's never told me about loving someone. I've heard stories about how he and Lisanna were really close when they were kids, and everyone thought they'd end up together, but now that she's back with us, neither have them have made a move toward each other. It's just too much to think about, too much for me to process all in one night.

His expression changes, to hurt, then anger. "Forget it," he says. he leaps up and runs. "Just forget it!"

His outbursts causes something within me to snap. I reach out to grab him but it's too late. He's gone. "Wait!" I call after him, getting to my feet and chasing him.

I manage to trail him for a minute before he rounds a corner. When I round the corner, he's gone. I look around, grit my teeth in frustration, and start running again. Anywhere. I need to find him.

I check Fairy Tail, where Mira, Kinana, and Lisanna are still cleaning up for the day. None of them know where he might be. I check the forest, briefly, I check his house, and even checked a few different stores he liked in town. He's nowhere to be seen. I look for about an hour before I decide to check my own room.

When I push open my door I look frantically around for him, but he's not there.

"Natsu," I mumble into my pillow. "I love you too. Why won't you come out so I can tell you?"

I turn my head so I can look out my window. I can see him sitting there, watching me, smiling his trademark smile. But he's not there, it's just a memory.

"Where are you?!" I exclaim, pushing myself up and punching my pillow. "Why'd you have to run away, you coward?!"


	6. Chapter 6

**This chapter is in Natsu's perspective.**

* * *

"Coward," I roar, pounding the tree in front of me. It shatters and pieces of bark and wood scatter on the ground around me. I shake the splinters out of my hand, igniting it so the smaller ones will just burn up.

"Natsu!" Someone exclaims from above. I look up and see Happy flying toward me, concern and confusion on his face. "Where have you been? I've been looking all over and I think I saw Lucy looking for you too."

"What's up, Happy?" I ask, trying to stay off the topic of Lucy, even hearing her name drives splinters into my chest.

"Are you okay?" Happy asks me. Nothing gets past him. Nothing.

"Just been thinking about things," I admit. "Don't worry about it, buddy."

He looks at the broken free behind me and back at me. He can tell how upset I am, and decides against asking about it. "I'll see you at home. Don't ruin all the trees this time, okay? Train using those boulders instead."

He turns and flies back toward the house and I make sure he's far off enough before I head further into the woods to let off some more steam.

"Why am I so stupid?" I snarl at the boulder I found. "Why couldn't I just keep my damn mouth shut?!" She probably thinks I'm a total loser. Why would she ever want me?

I'm impulsive, impatient, I'm not nearly as smart as the others, and I don't know the first thing about romance. She deserves someone who can be all that I can't be. But I don't want anyone else to have her.

But… that Oliver guy. Something about him bugs me. It's more than just jealousy. I know I was jealous of him, worried Lucy liked him, but since I heard her turn him down like that, I ain't worried about that anymore. But I still have this bad feeling about him…

The boulder in front of me finally gives in and shatters after three hits.

And hearing her turn him down, it made me so happy. I don't know if that was what made me tell her. I don't know. What the hell was I thinking? I'd even heard her say she wasn't interested in dating or anything… God damnit, why am I so stupid?!

I charge at a thick tree and roundhouse kick it, going a few times before I break through it. I swat at the falling pieces, frustrated. I let myself fall onto my back to steady my breathing and calm down. "Get ahold of yourself, Dragneel," I grumble, looking up at the stars.

The stars have this calming effect on me, like looking at Lucy does. It helps me to calm down, but my mind is still racing.

"What am I going to do?" I wonder. "I know I need to face her… maybe I'll find her after that job of hers tomorrow? Yeah… that's what I'll do."


	7. Chapter 7

**I suppose I should clear things up before I continue. This takes place before the Games Arc and after the Starry Skies Arc. You can maybe tell by now that this is definitely a NaLu fic. There will be hints of other ships too, but NaLu is the main one.**

**No worries, I don't ship my original characters with anyone. I know some people don't like it when Fanfic writers do that. **

**Ehh, idk if there's anything else I should tell you, I'll add it into the author's notes of future chapters. If you have any questions while reading, just ask me in a message or a review and I will answer your question as soon as I see it.**

**BTW, it's back to Lucy's point of view!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

In the morning I wake up completely entangled in my sheets. My head is pounding and I feel like I got zero sleep last night. I stare up at my ceiling for a few minutes before forcing myself to untangle my body from the mess of blankets. it takes me ten full minutes to escape from my bed. I stretch my body awake, which irritates my headache, and I go into the bathroom to fall into the shower to soak before fully waking up.

Last nights events hit me like a ton of bricks and I jump out of the shower and dry off. I run into my room to put clothes on, grabbing my keys and my whip on the way out the door.

It's still early, maybe eight or nine, telling by the morning light around me. I burst into the guild hall, looking around for pink spikes and find nothing.

Mirajane pops her head up from behind the bar counter and Kinana comes out onto the stage a broom in her hand when they hear me run inside. Almost nobody is here yet. I don't belong to a guild of early risers, that's for damn sure.

"Mira, did Natsu come in at all last night?" I ask her, out of breath.

"Nope," she responds simply. "Is something wrong?"

_Nothing I can tell you_, "No. I just needed to tell him something."

Master Makarov comes in behind me and looks up, "What are you up so early for? Going to take care of that vulcan?" he asks curiously.

_Oh yeah!_ "Uh-huh! I'll be back later!" I call, turning and running back outside to head into the woods.

The forest is quiet early in the morning. It's not like it is during the day when forest animals are lively. I'm glad for this, it'll make things easier when I'm tracking down that vulcan.

I wander the woods for a while before I spot vulcan tracks in the ground. I follow them stealthily until I spot the beast snooping around a bird's nest. There are three large eggs resting unguarded inside.

I climb the nearest tree, concealing myself as best I can in the leaves. I hold two keys out in front of me and concentrate, mentally calling Taurus and Scorpio. When they show up, they look around for a second to find me and spot me waving from the tree. I point at the vulcan and they give me a thumbs up and go at it.

I watch the three fight, feeling bad that I can't join in. Vulcans tend to fight harder if they're looking to play around with girls, so it's best I not be spotted. I know that Scorpio understands this. I think Taurus would prefer I be out in the open so _he_ could see me and make perverted comments.

When the vulcan looks like he's nearly had it, I let myself relax a bit. Taurus and Scorpio will finish him off, I can thank them, send them back, and go back to the guild hall to find Natsu.

I sense a rustling in the trees behind me and turn just in time to see a second vulcan bring his hand forward in a move to grab me. I jump out of the way last second and pull out my keys. "Open Gate of the Lion!" I cry, "Loke!"

He comes flying out of the light and punches the vulcan in the face, before touching down on the ground in front of me. The first vulcan spots me and starts getting himself all excited and fighting harder.

"Crap!" I exclaim, trying to watch Taurus and Scorpio, while watching the vulcan in front of Loke and I.

"You took a vulcan job by yourself?!" Loke asks when he notices nobody else is with me. "Are you _stupid?!_"

"There was just one vulcan on the job request sheet!" I exclaim, grabbing my whip to help him fight. "I thought I could handle it! Then this one showed up! I'm sorry!"

"You're still stupid," Loke growls, going for the vulcan in front of us.

Taurus and Scorpio finish off their vulcan before Loke and I finish ours so when they finish, they join us so we can take the second vulcan down faster. Finally, about half an hour of constant battling, the four of us have both vulcans finished off.

"Thank you so much, Scorpio, Taurus, and Loke!" I pant, hands on my knees. "I'd be a goner if not for you."

"No more solo vulcan jobs," says Loke.

"Yeah, that was pretty dumb, Lucy," Taurus agrees.

"Use your head," Scorpio scolds. "Aquarius would be all over your ass if she was here."

"Kay, thanks, guys!" I snap, frustrated. "Go back now. Thanks again!"

The three of them vanish and I let myself fall onto the ground. I roll over and let the morning sun warm my face. A few minutes into enjoying the calm and the sun, Something blocks the sunlight and I open my eyes, curious. Maybe it's starting to get cloudy?

"Natsu!" I exclaim, sitting up. He's standing behind me, looking down at me, scowling. I have a feeling I know what's coming next.

"So Loke already told you how dumb that was, right?" he asks me, his voice low.

"Taurus and Scorpio too," I inform him. "Anyway, did you see that?! I had three gates open at once!" I exclaim, jumping to my feet and looking back at him, a big smile on my face. I try not to let it show how exhausted I am after that.

I can't believe how amazing that battle felt. Sure, it was hard, exhausting, but it still felt great. It doesn't look like he agrees.

"If you'd looked back half a second later, that second vulcan would have grabbed you. Then it would have knocked you out and it would have been over for you."

"But that didn't happen!" I point out, getting irritated with him. "Whatever. We're not talking about my awesome skill. We need to talk about last night."

"Yeah, listen," he starts, averting his eyes. "i'm sorry. I shouldn't have said any of that."

My stomach twists into a knot. He didn't mean to say it? He didn't mean it?! "What?" I ask him, confused. "But last night you said you loved me."

He shrugs. "I shouldn't have said it."

"Why shouldn't you have?" I ask curiously. Maybe I'm misunderstanding him.

He looks up at me, startled. "Uh, well, I -," he pauses. Then his face hardens, "Ah, hell. I can't lie to you now… Yeah, I love you, but I can tell you don't love me so I shouldn't have said it because now things are going to be weird for us as a team," he says quickly. He looks like he wants to run away again but I stop him.

"Don't you dare run from me this time," I tell him, grabbing his hand for insurance. I take a step toward him. "And… I have to be honest with you now." I look up at him and take a deep breath. "Yeah, at first when you said it, I was totally shocked. I never thought you'd think that way about anyone… But I thought about it a lot while I was running around looking for you, and while I was trying to sleep. I want to tell you that -," I pause; the words are stuck in my throat. I haven't said these words in ages, not all together and in this order. Not since my mom died.

"What is it?" he presses, studying my face.

I go up on my tip toes, wrapping my arms around his neck and kiss him. Just for a few seconds before I pull away, blushing furiously. "I love you, Natsu Dragneel. I think I knew it from the moment I saw you. I love you."


	8. Chapter 8

**Natsu's point of view. :)**

* * *

I stare at the girl hanging around my neck and I feel like I might combust from surprise and happiness. I wrap my arms around her waist and hold her close to me. We stand like that, embracing, for a few minutes before she finally pulls away from me, leaving me feeling incomplete.

"Let's go back to the guild," she suggests and takes my hand. timidly, at first, but then she seems to feel comfortable being hand in hand with me.

"You feel okay?" I ask her, concerned. She's all scratched up and there's even a few small open cuts from one of the vulcans clawing at her.

"I'm better than okay," she assures me with a giddy smile. She looks at me, still flushed. "I can't believe I just kissed you like that," she says, sounding embarrassed.

"Why? I liked it," I inform her.

That makes more blood rush to her face. She almost looks like a blonde tomato.

I laugh, "you look like a blonde tomato." Who says I'm not a genius? Everybody. I mentally gauge out my eyes for saying something so stupid to her. That's probably the last thing she wants to hear.

"Oh, really?" She sounds anxious now. Great. "Thanks for telling me!"

"Oh, sorry. I don't think before I say things," I tell her, feeling my own cheeks flush a bit.

"Now you look like a tomato with pink hair," she giggles.

I crack a smile, laughing with her. "We match."

"Man, this is weird, though. I wonder what the rest of the guild is going to say," Lucy wonders, changing the subject, probably trying to make this easier. It doesn't.

"Knowing those assholes they'll make a big deal about it," I tell her.

She laughs. "They make a big deal out of everything. What do you want to do about it then?"

"Well… I don't want to tell 'em anything yet," I tell her honestly.

"I agree. I mean, Levy and some of the other girls have been making jokes for a while now… I don't want them to freak out or anything," she tells me.

"Really?" I ask her curiously. Some of the guys have been asking me about Lucy, too. But I had no idea that the girls asked her about me. And Happy's always making jokes…

She nods. "Yeah. I think they all just want to see everyone with everyone. Like, I do it to Levy about Gajeel, and I'd do it to Erza about Jellal if that situation wasn't so…" she pauses, trying to find the word.

"Screwed up?" I provide.

"Exactly. And Juvia with Gray, and Bisca and Al? We all used to tease them before they finally admitted it to each other and married while we were on Tenroujima. It's something we all do."

"I've never done it to anyone," I tell her honestly.

"Yeah, I've never heard you gossiping," she states. "Guess you have better things to think about."

_I don't know about that._ "So we won't tell 'em until we're ready to?" I ask to confirm.

She nods her head once to confirm as we enter Magnolia, we part hands and I ball mine into a fist, trying to fill the void her hand left behind.

"So don't you think that fight was incredible?" she asks me. "I summoned three spirits and even my own combat skills were good!."

"They were," I assure her. "And you're getting a hell of a lot stronger if you can summon three spirits at once. I remember when you could just summon one, and not for as long as you can now."

"The training we've been doing is helping me a lot!" she gushes happily. "I'm so glad I'm working with Capricorn or I'd be getting nowhere. I bet I could even compete with you, Gray, and Erza in a fight!"

"Gray, probably, Me? I wouldn't even try sparring with you seriously. Erza? Not a chance. She doesn't take it easy on anyone she spars with. you'd have to be totally serious if you want to train with her." I warn her. "That training we're doing is helping me too. I can hold Lightning Flame Mode for a long time without passing out," I tell her.

"You're incredible," she blurts out, "I mean, you can switch like that now, it's really cool. But I'm wondering… can you use that flame god fire you were talking about? From fighting that Zancrow guy?"

I shake my head. "I've tried but it's not easy. It's different than just using the lightning element. Since it's god slayer magic, I'd have to learn god slayer magic to use it."

"That makes sense," she says thoughtfully. "Though, it shouldn't even have been possible for you to use it in the first place."

"I'm just that awesome," I tell her, cracking a smile. "To tell you the truth, I thought I was going to die swallowing that fire, it hurt like hell. But I couldn't lose for the guild's sake. I knew that if I just pushed through it, it would work out. And it did!"

She smiles, "don't get cocky though. You never know what could happen in the future," she warns me.

I shrug, "yeah, I know. Why sweat it now? it ain't happening now so why think about it?"

"To prepare?" she suggests.

"Well, yeah." I roll my eyes. "Of course! I train any chance I get lately."

"I'm taking a break tomorrow, from working and from training," she tells me out of the blue.

"What for?" I ask her, curious. She never takes breaks from work or training, not really.

She looks down at her feet. "I need to visit my mom."

"Oh." I wasn't expecting it to be that.

"Natsu, do you want to come? I'm sure she'd want to meet you," she tells me, looking up at me.

I smile and nod my head. "What time do you want to meet?"

"Let's meet tomorrow morning at ten," she suggests. "At the park. The grave is in Acalypha. I had her grave moved again so she could be next to my dad… We can visit them both."

"We can take the train, it'll get us there faster than walking," I suggest.

"_You_ want to take the train? I was thinking we'd walk to avoid vehicles," she counters.

"Nah, if we walk it'll take all day to get there," I point out. "I can deal with the train for a few hours for you."

She looks at me for a few seconds before looking ahead and smiling. "Come on, we're almost to the guild. Remember, we won't tell anyone yet."

* * *

**Man, I'm rereading this to edit chapter by chapter, and I must say, I find myself giggling at how cute I thought this was. It was fun writing this because I freaking love NaLu so much!**

**I tried to stay as true to their characters as I could while still making them act couple-y.**

**Idk, I hope it's good so far! THanks so much for the reviews! Keep 'em coming! Like I said, feel free to ask questions or critique my writing if you feel it necessary.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Lucy's perspectiveee! Though I'm sure you can see that without me telling you.**

* * *

The first thing I do when I enter the guild is find Master Makarov. He's playing cards with Macao, Wakaba, and Laki. From the looks of it, Laki is winning.

"Hey, I finished that job," I tell him. "There was a bit of a mishap though."

He looks up at me curiously just as Natsu approaches. We tried entering at different times, though I'm not sure why. It's not like we don't come in together all the time anyway. "What happened, Lucy?" Master Makarov asks me, eyeing my wounds, concerned.

"There were two," I tell him simply.

His eyes widen and he looks distraught for a moment before he masks the concern. "Oh, dear," he says evenly. "That must have been troublesome."

I nod. "But I kicked butt! I even had three gates open at once to take care of it. My combat skills still need work, though."

"I can help you there," Natsu offers. "You looked fine to me, but I can figure out where you need work and help you out."

"Natsu, you were there?" Mirajane asks curiously, coming over with a jug of water.

Natsu looks up sharply and I shake my head. _Idiot_. "Uh, I was fishing in the area and I saw her fighting those vulcans," Natsu says quickly.

"Did you catch any fish?" Mirajane asks, looking at me. She winks. I can feel Natsu's body heating up next to me and I inch away from him just in case he actually explodes.

I catch Mirajane's knowing smile and nearly drop my water. "You little sneak!" I exclaim.

"What'd I do?" Mirajane asks me, playing innocent.

"You know exactly what you did!" I tell her.

"All I know is what I know, and I know for darn sure Natsu wasn't fishing," she tells me.

I snort, feeling my cheeks flush.

"And let me guess, you're embarrassed because something happened?" Lisanna asks from behind me. I turn to see she'd snuck up behind me with Levy, Cana, and Wendy.

Wendy takes a good look at me for the first time and comes to my side to heal the small wounds I have. "Lucy, why are you so warm?" she asks me, concerned.

"I call time out!" I cry, looking around. Natsu looks just as flustered as I feel. "Who says anything happened?" I ask everyone.

"It's written all over your face," Levy tells me.

"And Natsu doesn't usually act all embarrassed like this," Cana remarks. She smirks at the look he gives her. "We've been waiting forever for you two to hook up."

"You brats have been joined at the hip since Natsu brought you to us, Lucy," Master Makarov adds. "Even I could see something would happen between the two of you."

"Can we not make a big deal about this?" Natsu asks.

"Please?" I add, pleading. I can see Erza and Gray coming over with Happy and Carla.

Apparently we have to make a big deal about it, because suddenly Levy's hugging me, Cana's ordering drinks, Gray's making snide remarks to piss Natsu off. Then commenses the brawling, the girl talk between Cana, Levy, Wendy, and I, and the general chaos. Fairy Tail loves to make an event out of anything and everything that happens.

I manage to sneak out at around two. I have some laundry to take care of and I need to unwind from everything that's happened today.

On the walk home I replay everything that happened last night and this morning. It's all so crazy, like it's just a dream. I look into the water of the canal as I walk beside it. I'm still blushing a little, still giddy. I wonder when this feeling will cease. I wonder what this feeling really means. I feel nervous and excited, but at the same time I feel at ease and comfortable, like this is the place I should be. I'm supposed to be with Natsu Dragneel.

When I get home I notice a light is on in my bedroom upstairs. When I let myself in and go upstairs, my jaw drops in shock.

"Oliver!" I exclaim. "What the hell are you doing in here?!"

"Sorry. i just had to come see you again," he tells me, standing up from the chair he'd been sitting in. He approaches me at the door. "I need to ask you one last time. Come home with me."

"That didn't sound like a question," i remark, furious. I move out of his way. "Get out! This is creepy and weird! Breaking and entering is a crime even for rich people!"

He looks hurt at that but doesn't move. He reaches out to take my arm. "Lucy. I'm not letting you go."

And like that, we're not in my apartment anymore. I look around to see we're in a new room. I can see we're not even in Magnolia anymore, by the window view.

I back away from him, glaring at him. "You're using teleportation magic?"

"Yeah," he tells me.

"When did you start using magic? And I didn't sense any magic power on you before." I reach to my side for my keys.

He holds them up for me to see along with my whip. "Don't bother," he tells me, his voice low. "You didn't sense my power because of a pendant I was wearing under my shirt," he tells me. "A neat magic item that conceals magic power from other people. I had it on so neither you nor that Salamander could tell I was a wizard."

"But Natsu could tell you were a total creep," I spit at him. "I should have known he was right. Oliver, what do you want?" I inquire, irritated.

"For you to stay with me," he says simply.

"Not happening!" I declare quickly. "You'd have a better shot teaching a beetle to read. Take me back home now and I won't tell Natsu you did this. I'm so angry now! Do you realize how excited I was to have a piece of my old life back?! It would have been so nice to have an old friend back. But no! you have to go and be like this! Take me back or I swear you'll regret it."

"Why should I? Your friends won't be able to find this place and it's not like you can leave on your own without your spirits to help you."

"Natsu already knows you're a creep. He's got your scent and he's the best tracker I know of. I'm assuming we're back at your estate? He knows we used to be friends? He can find out where this place is through Love and Lucky or someone who used to work for my father. If he has Wendy with him, cut the search time in half. if he has Erza and Gray, cut it down more. You might survive after they're finished with you." I hold out my hand to him. "But they have a tendency to go overboard so it isn't likely. Take me home. Now. You'll have to work at your game if you're going to try taking things by force. Try planning things out next time, Kay? Except don't. If I see you again I might hurt you myself."

He doesn't think twice when he hears all of those names. Erza Scarlet would be scary enough, but throw the ice mage and sky dragon slayer, and that's a fearsome foursome. He grabs my hand, tosses me my keys and whip, and disappears.

I'm alone in my room again.

I need a drink. I turn on my heels and go back outside, slamming the door behind me.

* * *

**Oliver, you creep… Well at least he's gone now. Back to the NaLu!**


	10. Chapter 10

Cana and Levy are still partying with the rest when I find them by the pool. Gray's chasing Natsu around, naked while Natsu's waving Gray's swimtrunks around. He takes one look at me and flings Gray's swimsuit back at him and the ice mage repays him by freezing him in a block of ice and kicking him into the pool.

I tap Cana and Levy on the shoulder. "Hey, can we go back to my place?" I whisper to them. "I want to talk just the three of us." I'd invite Erza, but who knows how she'd react with that sense of justice of hers. She'd probably go straight after Oliver herself to teach him not to mess with her friends.

Levy looks at me, concerned. "Did something happen?"

Cana slings her arms over Levy and I and starts walking us out of the pool room and toward the front door. "Let's go do that girl talk thing some more. Fun stuff!"

On the way back to my place Cana stops into a store to get some bottles of wine. She has this uncanny ability to know when someone needs alcohol.

When we get back to my place I change out of the clothes I'm wearing, which are covered in blood and dirt stains from this morning, and change into some more comfortable clothes. Cana pours out some glasses of wine and Levy runs out for snacks when she sees how empty my kitchen is.

"This will be a regular girls' night," I tell Cana, helping her spread out pillows and stuff on the floor so we can relax.

"I'm planning on sleeping over, if you're cool with it," Cana tells me. "That way we can really catch up."

As long as Natsu doesn't come in the night, I'm fine with it. Of course I don't say that to Cana. She knows he shows up whenever he wants, but now that we're dating it might mean something different.

"Fine with me! Sleepovers are fun!" I say cheerfully.

Levy returns with snacks and we all make ourselves comfortable. I start explaining everything that happened with Oliver yesterday and last night and then finish off with what he did today. They throw in comments here and there, asking me to elaborate on things. We get side tracked a few times when something I say reminds them of another story. They're both awestruck by the end of it.

"What a loser!" Levy exclaims. "Lu-chan, that's crazy! I can't believe that happened!"

"I was so hoping he'd be the old, uncomplicated, good friend that I remember from when we were kids," I tell them. "I mean, we used to do everything together and he was such a sweet friend to have. I wonder what changed him? I never thought he'd become a wizard, and that magic concealing pendant must not have been cheap. I didn't think he'd become a wizard while I was gone."

"Who cares? Whatever it was changed him negatively," Cana tells me, refilling my wine glass for me.

"I swear, if I ever see him again, I'll snap and attack him myself," I declare. "He won't need to be afraid iof Natsu, he'll need to be afraid of me! I can open three gates now!" I state proudly.

"We heard!" Cana and Levy exclaim together. Levy giggles.

"Oh, Lu! So you and Natsu are dating now," Levy giggles, her cheeks red from smiling. "Have you kissed and all that yet?"

My face turns red. I nod, smiling. "I did it this morning. I didn't even think about it. I just did it!"

"Good for you," Cana congratulates me. She holds up her glass and Levy holds up hers. "Heres hoping you two will be together forever, no matter what might happen from here on in."

I hold up my glass just as I hear the door opening. "Hear, hear," a male voice agrees. I look to see Natsu standing at the door. "You guys are loud. I could hear you from two streets away."

"Oh, no." I blush, burying my head in my knees. Levy bursts out laughing and Cana snickers behind her hand.

"I could see him walking down the street when I looked out the window so I asked you about it cuz I thought it'd be funny if he heard you talking about it!" Levy giggles.

"Levy," I groan.

"Hey, we'll see you guys tomorrow," Cana tells us, pulling a clumsy Levy up with her. She abandons a still sealed wine bottle, along with their two glasses. The two of them walk out of the apartment, Cana supporting Levy as the blue haired girl giggles her goodbyes. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Cana calls to me before shutting the door.

I peek up at Natsu, who's watching me with a smirk on his face. "You drunk?" he asks me.

I nod my head. "A little."

"A lot. you're weird when you're drunk." he comes over and crouches down in front of me.

I hold up my wine glass to him. "Join me?" I offer.

He sits down next to me and peels the seal off the wine bottle next to him. He grabs Cana's empty wine glass and pours himself a glass and touches it to mine. "So you were talking about this morning, huh?" he asks me.

I nod. "They wanted to know how everything happened. I told them about Oliver and stuff."

"Oh, man, really? Now Cana and Levy'll tell everyone," Natsu groans. "Just the way I want to be seen, a whiney jealous-type. Thanks a lot, Luce."

I drain my wine glass. "Blame it on the alcohol."

"Nah, I'd rather blame the one drinking it," he declares, draining his own glass.

I refill it and my own. "So what? you're telling me Gray and Elfman and the other guys haven't asked?"

"Yeah, but I didn't tell them the details. Like, I told them about Oliver coming, but I just told 'em I thought the guy was a creep because he just seemed like bad news. It wasn't just jealousy, it was more like protectiveness."

"Well I didn't tell the girls you were acting jealous, I never said the word jealous at all! I don't care what the others think anyway," I proclaim honestly. "Let them gossip. I'm just happy we can be together now!"

"Oh, really? Me too," he tells me. He drains his glass and burps, fire streaked out of his mouth and he covered it to keep more from coming out. I lean back so it won't burn me and crack up laughing, taking his wine glass from him.

"No more for you. I forgot what fire does when alcohol is in the mix."

"Good thing it wasn't liquor. Those burps burn longer and farther than stuff like wine," he tells me with a laugh.

He stands up then and holds out his hand for me. "You're done too. It's late. Weren't we supposed to meet tomorrow morning at the park?"

I look up at him and recall what he's talking about. "Tomorrow morning at ten, right? We'll meet at the park to go to Acalypha."

He nods. I take his hand and lose my footing right off the bat, stumbling and falling into him. I look over at the wine bottles. I had at least one full bottle. Oops. I didn't realize how drunk I really was until now. "You can't even walk? You're such a light weight," Natsu chides.

"I can so walk," I argue, pulling away from him, remaining as steady as I can. I focus on the hallway leading to my bedroom and start walking toward it. it's just a few steps, but it's still something. I only trip over my feet twice and all without falling on my face. I turn back to him and stick my tongue out. "Walking like a pro!" I cheer.

"Real top notch walking," he agrees, coming over and kisses me lightly on the lips. "You're kind of cute when you're drunk. I didn't notice last time I saw this because it freaked me out to see you drunk for the first time."

"Oh, that wasn't my first time," I inform him, going up for another kiss. I love kissing him.

He accepts graceously but then pulls back when I try kissing him again. "Let's not do this while we're both intoxicated," he says softly. "It feels weird, like it's the alcohol doing it and not us. If we're going to figure out how to be a couple, I want to do it sober. Okay?"

I process that slowly and then nod. "Great idea," I murmur.

He picks me up bridal style to take me to my room. I snuggle into his chest and close my eyes. "You're warm."

"I should be," he responds with an easy laugh. "It's kind of my thing."

"I like it more than I like the alcohol's warm."

"I'll keep that in mind," he chuckles.

He holds me with one hand while pulling my covers up with the other. He slides me under them and tucks me in. Next ne jumps over me onto my window sill and sits there, talking with me until I finally fall asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

**Natsu's point of view.**

* * *

In the morning I wake up before Lucy's even up. I usually do. I look up at her from my spot on the floor and find myself smiling, she's so cute when she's asleep.

"This is creepy," I decide quietly, so she won't hear me and wake up. I get up and leave her room. I stayed overnight to make sure she'd be alright, I hadn't seen how much alcohol she'd had and I wanted to make sure she wouldn't get sick from it or anything.

I round up the glasses and the bottles from the floor and take them to the sink. I dump out the remainder of the wine and wash the dishes. The blankets and pillows are next, I fold them up and stack them so it'll be easy for Lucy when she wants to put them away.

I hear Lucy stirring in her room and leave then, so she won't know I stayed with her all night. I know she wouldn't mind - I've done it so many times before, but I don't want to give the others the wrong idea.

I go back to my own house to wash up and change clothes for what I think might be my first real date with Lucy. Sure, it's to visit a grave site, but I think that's cool that she's letting me meet her mom. Besides, I'm planning on making it a nice trip for her.

Happy's still asleep when I get back to the house, so I try not to wake him up while I'm getting ready. He was almost insufferable yesterday - all of them were. I hate it when everyone makes such a big deal out of two people getting together. I mean, come on! It's not anybody's business except the two people involved in the relationship!

I manage to shower, make food, and change clothes all without Happy waking up, but as I'm creeping out the door I hear his accusing voice ring out behind me. "Going somewhere?" he asks curiously.

I turn to look at him. "Yeah. I'll see you later at the guild hall."

"Going out with Lucy?" he asks.

I nod. "Is there something wrong with that?" I ask, defensive. Happy's been making jokes about Lucy since day one. It's always bugged me.

"Listen, Natsu," he starts, sounding more serious than joking. "I wanna tell you I'm happy you and Lucy finally got together. I know we were all joking and making fun of you two but we're all glad you two finally figured it out and told each other how you feel."

_Whoa, he's being serious? Really?_ "Thanks, buddy!" I tell him, smiling, "'Preciate it! See you later!" I call over my shoulder as I leave to go meet Lucy.

I get there well before ten and find a bench to sit down on. My nerves won't settle down, though, so I jump up top to walk the back of the bench, balancing as I walk back and forth, keeping myself busy.

"Wow, could you look more anxious?" someone calls from behind me. I spin on my heel to see, nearly losing my balance. I jump down before I can face plant.

"What are you doing here?" I ask Gray, glaring at that irritating smirk. I clench my fist, more than tempted to punch him in the face.

"I'm on my way to run some errands for Mira," he tells me. "What're you waiting around for?"

"We're going to Acalypha to see my mom," Lucy says, approaching us. i hadn't noticed her coming.

Gray looks surprised at the mention of her mom and then he grins. "That's cool. Tell her hi for me, will you? Get back by tonight though, Erza wants us to pick a new joh tonight." he says and waves goodbye as he continues walking through the park into town.

"See you later, Gray," Lucy calls after him and turns to me. "Good morning," she says, sounding drained but cheerful.

"Good morning," I respond, studying her expression. "You feeling okay after last night?"

Her mouth twitches and she blushes, "please tell me I didn't do anything stupid."

"Nothing really," I tell her honestly. She'd have to try real hard for me to think she did anything stupid. "You were just tellin' Levy and Cana about us and then you got all embarrassed when I showed up. Then we talked for a while and you went to bed. I left after that."

"Did you clean the wine glasses and fold everything up?" she asks me curiously.

i nod. "I wanted to make your clean up easier."

She smiles, "You're sweet. Let's go!"

She takes my hand and we head over to Magnolia Station. I brace myself for the ride and we get on board.

"Maybe we should have asked Wendy to cast Troia before we left," Lucy wonders when the train starts moving and I grip the edges of my seat, splintering the wood.

"Nah, I can deal with this for a few hours," I assure her.

She hands me a paper bag. "So you don't have to hang out the window," she offers.

"You're a saint," I praise her.

That's about as far as we go before I'm rendered unable to communicate with real words. She sits by my side and hands me new bags and even takes full bags to the trash for me. I swear she's too sweet for her own good.

By the time we make it to Acalypha, it's 2:30. We stop into a flower shop and I wait while Lucy picks out some flowers for her mom and for her dad. She picks white roses and talks with the old woman behind the counter for a few minutes after she pays for them.

"I've seen you in here dozens of times," the old woman starts, eyeing me standing at the door. "But who's that? I think I recall seeing his picture but not him in person."

"Oh, if you read the news, maybe. He's… a friend of mine from my guild," Lucy tells the woman. "I brought him with me so i could introduce him to my mom."

"Oh," she says and smiles. "Just friends, eh? Can't fool an old woman like me, dear. You don't bring just anyone to visit your parents. Have fun today, you two! And now that I think about it, I have seen his picture in the news," she says, giving me a warning look. "You better leave before you break something!"

Lucy laughs and grabs my arm as she passes me. She leads the way toward Love and Lucky. The two graves are nearby, in a garden owned by the merchant guild. They dedicated the lot to Jude and Layla when Lucy asked if she could move the two graves together there. I always thought it was cool how they did that for Lucy to honor her parents' memory.

She approaches her fathers grave first, kneeling in front of it to place one of the bouquets. I'm holding the other one for her. She talks quietly to her dad for a while and I give her the space she needs to do so. Next she moves in front of her mom's grave and does the same thing.

"Hey, mama, I told you I would come see you soon," she starts with a small laugh. "I'm sorry it took so long for me to visit after I had your grave moved yet again. I promise that was the last time you'll be moved. I thought you might want to be with dad so I moved both of you together here," She touches the headstone for a second. "Mama, I miss you. I hope you're doing alright in Heaven. I've been doing great. I haven't told you yet, but I'm getting so much stronger! I summoned three spirits at once yesterday."

I listen to her talking to her mom for a little while longer. She's giving me chills, the way she's talking like that. It makes me wish I had someone's grave I could visit. Then again, I don't think Igneel's grave would be easy to find. Guess it would be easier than trying to find him while he's alive.

It's not even sad or anything, just significant. I can see and feel how much Lucy loves her mom, and how she's trying to repair the broken relationship she had with her dad.

Finally, she stops talking and looks back at me. "And mom, I want you to meet someone." She motions me forward. I go to sit next to her and I hold out the flowers for her. She smiles and takes the bouquet with one hand so we give the roses to her mom together. "This is Natsu Dragneel. He's the one who brought me to Fairy Tail. I told you about him in a few of my letters," she says to her mom. "Well, mom. I have some news. He and I are dating now."

Silence fills the air and I wonder what her mom thinks of that. Wherever she is now, can she see me? Does she think I'm as lame as most other people do? I bet she thinks Lucy is really stupid for dating someone like me.

I clear my thoat, nervous. "Uh, Hi. Mrs. Heartfilia… I just wanna tell you that I love your daughter, and I'm going to do everything I can to keep her safe and be everything she needs for as long as she wants me."

Lucy laughs. "Natsu, don't be nervous about this. I know that if she was alive now, if we were sitting in the old estate, she'd love you. My mom loved everyone she met. And I know she'd especially like you. I promise she approves. My dad, too. He told me once in a letter than he thought you and the others seemed like good people whenever he saw you."

"Did he say that?" I ask her, surprised. The first time I ever heard of him, he'd attacked Fairy Tail to get Lucy to go home, then he showed up in Magnolia and told Lucy he'd lost everything. I went from seriously resenting him, even hating him right in the beginning, to feeling bad for the guy, to wishing he hadn't died before Lucy had the chance to see him again. My feelings about him had always been mixed, as I know in the beginning he hated me and the others in Fairy tail for taking his daughter away from him. It's nice to know that he grew to like us in the end.


	12. Chapter 12

**Lucy's perspective.**

* * *

While the two of us are sitting with my parents, Natsu pulls out some food he'd made at home and brought for us. I sniff it first, to be safe. It's just two bento boxes with some sandwiches and veggies. "You made lunch for us?" I ask him, surprised.

He nods. "Yeah. I figured we'd be here for a while, and I thought it'd be cool if we could eat while we're here."

It's not really customary to eat in front of graves, but I think my mom would probably love the idea, and my dad wouldn't mind. I laugh and give him a kiss on the cheek. "You're so sweet," I tell him earnestly.

He blushes a little at that, which makes me laugh more, which makes him blush more. "Just don't go tellin' the guys," he mutters.

"Aw, why? I bet they'd tease you, but secretly take notes on how to be a good boyfriend," I respond.

"Yeah, sure," he says, unconvinced.

I sit with Natsu, eating the lunch he made and talking with him and to my parents until the sun reminds me that we need to get back to the guild tonight. "We need to get back now," I remind Natsu. "Remember, Gray told us we're picking a new job tonight."

He looks up at the sky and back at my parents graves. "Alright," he says and stands up. he holds out his hand for me and helps me to my feet. We say goodbye to my parents and turn to leave the garden together, his arm around my waist.

"Thanks for bringing me here today, Luce," he says on our way out. "It was cool that you let me come see them with you."

"Don't be stupid, of course I would bring you. I've been meaning to bring you here with me for a while. I know it's kind of weird to want to bring someone to a grave, but I just knew my mom would want to meet you," I tell him honestly.

He smiles at that. "I'm glad we finally did it then."

The ride home is just as it was coming in to Acalypha. I brought a whole bunch of brown bags for Natsu to barf into so he wouldn't need to hang out the window, because I'm sure hanging out the window probably makes the motion sickness worse.

We arrive back in Fairy Tail at around 8 and we head straight for the guild hall to meet with the rest of our team. When we get there, we find that Gildarts is back from another of his jobs. He'd finished a year long job in ust a few weeks. I'll never get over how crazy strong he is, despite how weird he can be sometimes.

When he spots Natsu and I coming in, he starts grinning at us.

"Who told him?" I wonder.

"Those bastards," Natsu groans.

I catch Mira's expression when she hears Natsu say that and I elbow Natsu just as she starts weeping.

"Ah! I didn't know it was you, Mira!" Natsu exclaims, going to apologize. I sigh, looking around for Gray and Erza. They aren't here. "Guess we'll wait. And we came back early to make sure we weren't late," I mumble to myself, going to sit at the bar near Gildarts. Happy, Wendy, and Carla are sitting with him. I take a seat next to Gildarts, leaving a seat open on my other side. Wendy is sitting on his other side and Happy and Carla are sitting on the counter in front of her.

"So, I hear you and Natsu are a thing now," Gildarts says to me, nudging me playfully.

I nod. "I wish it wasn't such a big deal," I admit. "Was everyone talking about this when we weren't around or what?"

Gildarts laughs. "If you can't talk about your friends hooking up, what can you talk about?"

"How was your date?" Happy asks curiously.

"Great. So where are Erza and Gray?" I ask him.

"They're talking with the master about something. Erza said they'd be done soon so just wait here for them," Wendy answers for him.

Natsu comes over and takes the seat next to me. "What are they talkin' about?" he asks Wendy.

"I don't know," she tells him.

Speak of the devil, Gray, Erza, Master Makarov, and Juvia exit one of the private conference rooms.

"Lucy," Erza greets, approaching me. She takes my arm and pulls me to my feet. "Let's go upstairs and look at the S class board."

Juvia follows us upstairs and I notice Gray dragging Natsu over to the regular request board with Wendy following, looking back at me confused. Happy and Carla remain seated on the bar counter, talking with Gildarts.

Laxus is examining the S class request board and he glances at us as we approach it. "These jobs are lame," he remarks to Erza. "Nothin' fun to pick from."

"We aren't choosing jobs based on how fun they are," she chides him, taking her place beside him to look at the jobs. Juvia starts looking too and I stand back and let them do the picking. I have a bad feeling about this.

"So Lucy," Juvia starts after a moment of silence.

"Oh, no," I groan. "I knew you two brought me up here to talk about something."

"It's nothing bad," Erza assures me, looking back at me with a grin. "We just wanted to let you know we'll allow you and Natsu to see each other."

Laxus looks at us with some interest now. "You weren't gonna? You think Natsu would let you tell him whether or not he could date her?" he inquires.

Erza shakes her head. "We knew if we fought it we'd have some trouble with him. Anyway, we've come to the conclusion that Lucy and Natsu make each other stronger, and fight better when together, so the relationship is beneficial for the guild."

"You're talking about it like the only reason they can do things is if it's good for the guild," Laxus notes.

"You know that dating amongst team mates is usually forbidden," Juvia points out. "Because if the pair were to enter a fight and become preoccupied with the other's safety, they'd be unable to perform at their fullest potential."

"So yes. We should all strive to better the guild with every decision we make," Erza concludes.

"Yeah, sure," Laxus agrees, not really seeming to care. he finally tears a job off the board and go back downstairs to leave the guild. I watch him leave with his team, Evergreen, Freed, and Bickslow.

Erza chuckles. "I guess it does sound bad, now that I think about it."

"Don't worry about it. I understand how some team mates dating would be a bad idea. So what job should we take?" I ask her and Juvia, joining them at the board.

Juvia giggles awkwardly and holds up a job request. "Erza and Gray picked one an hour ago. They presented it to Master Makarov and he suggested Wendy and I join your team for this mission."

"Wait, so you seriously just brought me up here to tell me that Natsu and I are allowed to date?" I ask them. They nod and I sigh, "okay. Whatever, what's the job?" I ask, taking the request from Juvia.

"A demon has been terrorizing a small island called Atropine. Named after a certain essense extracted out of the Nightshade plants found on the island, it's Fiore's main source of this essence used for medicine. The island is extremely poisonous, and dangerous to anyone who isn't familiar with the plants." Erza holds up a folder she'd been holding. "You'll read through this tonight. memorize it."

I read the request flyer. "So this demon shows up once a month to do what? It just destroys a bunch of stuff and leaves for a month?"

Juvia shakes her head. "According to the little extra infomation Master had for us, the demon seems to be looking for something and can only do it once a month. We're supposed to figure out what it is doing and how to stop it."

I see the reward and nearly start cheering. "10 000 000 jewel?! My share will pay rent for over a year! I'm in!"

"We thought you might like the cash. Anyway, we'll leave tomorrow morning," Erza tells me.

Something comes to me then, I look up at them, worried. "So wait… if you two told me that Natsu and I are allowed to date, that doesn't mean that -"

A crashing sound rings out from below and I look over the railing to see Natsu has punched Gray and sent him through a couple tables.

"Oh," Erza seems to realize her error then and smacks herself in the head.

"Maybe I should have talked to Natsu?" Juvia wonders.

"Yeah, probably," I agree with her, watching the brawling begin when Gray jumps on top of Elfman's table and steps on his stack of ribs to counter attack Natsu.

Wendy runs upstairs to distance herself from the brawling and Carla and Happy follow her up. The girls plus Happy watch the brawl for a while and pass around the request flyer for everyone to read. Wendy agrees to come along when Juvia mentions that Master suggested she come.

"And Natsu will come, I know he'll be all fired up about S Class," I assure everyone.

"Of course I'm in!" Natsu shouts up to me from the ground floor where he's got Romeo in a headlock.

"Your hearing is too good for your own good," I tell him, not bothering to shout.

"So what if it is?!" he asks with a grin.

"I'm going home. Try not to break the building again," I tell him and turn to the others. "I'll meet you guys at Magnolia Station," I tell them and wave goodbye. I sneak downstairs and dance around the fights to avoid them and narrowly miss a small blast from Gildarts that cube-ifies a chair near me and head out the door to go home for the night, feeling high on life, today was a great day.


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning I join the others at Magnolia Station and watch Gray and Erza try to force Natsu onto the train while Juvia, Wendy, Carla, and Happy watch. The four of them see me and I put my finger to my lips, sneaking up behind Natsu, who hasn't noticed me yet. I'm wearing slippers now so my shoes aren't making any noise for him to detect. Gray and Erza watch me as I flick Natsu on a pressure point on his back, distracting him and making it easier for Gray and Erza to force him inside.

"Do you have to create such a scene so early in the morning?" I ask him when he spins around to face me. "You're so obnoxious. Come on, you were a champ on the train yesterday. And we're only going to Hargeon."

"And then we're going on a ship for who the hell knows how long," Natsu whines.

"I can cast Troia on you," Wendy reminds him when she boards.

"Oh, yeah," Natsu remembers. I roll my eyes and grin, going to sit down.

Gray, Juvia, and Wendy sit on one side of the compartment, while I sit with Erza and Natsu on the other side. Happy and Carla sit on the table between us. Wendy jumps onto the table and kneels in front of Natsu to cast the Troia spell before settling back into her seat.

"Alright then. I presume everyone read over the informational folders I provided," Erza starts, holding up her own folder. "It has a map, brief and in depth history of the society that lives on the island, and crucial information on the plants that inhabit the island. I also included all of the information we know about the job."

Everyone sets their folder on the table except for Natsu and Gray. Erza stares at them darkly, waiting for an explanation.

"Tell me I didn't waste my valuable time making these folders for you, just for you to lose them." She glowers at Gray.

"What'd you do with yours?" I ask Natsu.

"Happy started reading it, then we got hungry,: Natsu admits. "And while I was cooking I accidentally set the place on fire… It was funny, actually."

"You would think so," Juvia remarks.

I slide my file over to Natsu. "Read. I don't want you getting poisoned."

"And you?" Erza asks Gray.

"Uh, either Laki impaled it with her Wood Make or Max ripped it up with one of his sand attacks. I wasn't really watchin' it, last night. I was too busy trying to find my pants."

Juvia passes her folder to him and he and Natsu both read through the information while Erza fills us in on our tentative plan. "It's going to change as we find more information out. First thing we do when we arrive on the island is meet the client. Then we will collect data from the villagers. That's all we can plan to do until we know more," Erza concludes just as we arrive in Hargeon.

"I'm never going to memorize these damn plants. Is it really necessary for me to do this?" Natsu asks, glaring down at the page in front of him as he exits the train with Happy on his shoulder, reading the same page.

"They all look the same to me," Happy agrees.

"You have to look for variations in color, shape, even flower and flower color," I tell him. I pluck the folder from his hands and hold it up for them to see. I point out the differences between the two plants on the page and help them work through the next few pages. "Just think of some tricks to help you remember them."

"At least for the span of the mission," Erza offers. "After we're home, I don't expect you to keep it memorized."

"Though you probably should memorize it," Wendy counters. "It would help if you ever came across those plants in the future so you can remember too avoid them."

"Yeah, Wendy's right. I gotta memorize 'em," Natsu agrees with her.

"Aye," Happy agrees.

I sit with Natsu, Happy and Gray - Erza had made Gray stay so I could help him too. He was too proud to admit he was have trouble memorizing the plants. Juvia, Erza, Wendy, and Carla go onto the dock in hopes to find a ship to take us to Atropine.

"Erza will find one in ten minutes flat," Natsu states as she walks off.

"Five," I challenge him.

"You're on,"

Four minutes later Erza is back with three crewmen in tow. "I've sent one of them to find Juvia, and another to find Wendy and Carla. Are you all ready?"

"Does that mean you both lost the bet?" Gray asks us. "Lucy was closest, so I guess she wins."

"Bet?" Erza asks, curious.

"Natsu said you'd find a ship in ten minutes," Happpy starts. "Lucy said five. It took you four!"

"So I've exceeded your expectations!" Erza says, beaming proudly at her accomplishment. "Next time it will be two minutes!"

She leads us onto the ship we're using. Juvia, Wendy, and Carla board soon after and we set sail. After making sure Natsu's not going to puke on anyone anytime soon, I go over the folder with him and Gray one more time and quiz them. I give Erza my stamp of scholarly approval and we settle in to relax for the rest of the ride.

Until it feels like a humid, suffocatingly hot sauna. Atropine is located somewhere around where Tenroujima is, and this area is scorching hot all year.

"Too hot," I groan after half an hour of enduring it silently. "I cannot handle this much heat."

Natsu and Erza had both gone to go find the kitchen on this ship about five minutes ago to see if we could scam some food from the crew, so at least Natsu isn't around to make the heat even worse.

"Irony," Gray comments. I turn my head to glare at him and my eyes widen.

"Seriously?" I demand, turning around. Wendy catches a glimpse and squeals, turning beet red.

"At least wear your suit," Happy suggests. "It's that or Erza will kill you when she sees you like that. Natsu will probably freak out too and make things even hotter around here."

Gray's eyes widen in fear at that and he runs for his bag to pull his swim trunks on.

"I think he's got the right idea, under that scarring streaking habit of his," I remark, grabbing for my bag.

"I'll change too!" Wendy agrees and finds her swim suit in her bag and follows me to the bathroom. She waits outside while I change and when I come out, goes inside for herself.

My suit is red and gold, a new one I bought just a few weeks ago. I look to see Juvia's already changed into hers. "Did you just change out here?" I ask her, dumbstruck. She's usually so bashful.

"I had my swimming suit on under my dress!" Juvia says cheerfully. She's eyeing Gray, hoping he'll look at her suit. It looks like it's new too. "I bought it just last night because it's not every day we get to go on jobs on secluded islands!"

"It's not a vacation!" Erza announces from the door. I turn to see she's requipping into her swim suit and Natsu already has his on.

"Sure, Erza. Anyway, did you find any food?" I ask her, hearing my stomach growl.

"There was food. They were kind enough to give us something," Erza states. She eyes Natsu grumpily. "Ask him where it went."

He grins sheepishly. "There was only one watermelon. Barely enough to share."

"It was a ten pound melon!" Erza argues.

"Right. Like I said, not enough to go around."

"We'll be there soon anyway," I remind Erza.

She grumbles a "yeah," and goes off to tan on the deck. I watch her, thinking I might join her when Wendy comes out of the bathroom, wearing a little purple and yellow suit. A two piece with a skirt bottom and a tankini top.

I can also see Natsu turning green. He runs over to the side of the boat and pukes red watermelon over the edge. "What a waste!" Erza roars angrily.

"Troia wore off," I announce, chuckling. "Serves him right for eating a huge watermelon by himself, I guess. Come on, Wendy, let's go sun bathe with Erza."

We do just that and listen to Gray talking quietly with Juvia, Natsu puking, and Happy diving in the water to find sea fish. Carla;s moaning about the horrible noises Natsu makes when he's like this.

The rest of the trip is filled with trips to the kitchen for fresh water, hanging out in the little shade there is, and sunbathing while I watch the sun start to set. Finally, Natsu sees land and jumps the boat to swim the rest of the way there, followed by Happy with a fish hanging out of his mouth.

The rest of us get our things together and prepare to get off the boat. I toss a sundress over my bikini to cover up, and Juvia and Wendy do the same. Erza requips back into her armor and Gray looks for his shirt. Erza thanks the captain and pays him what they had agreed on in Hargeon. The boat docks and we all walk onto the dock to meet Natsu, who's soaking wet from swimming.

"You couldn't wait ten minutes?" I ask him disapprovingly

He smirks at me and shakes the water off his body like a dog, getting me, Wendy, and Carla all wet. "Nope!"

"Knock it off! You have plenty of other ways of drying yourself off!" I protest.

"Yeah. Only reason I swam is so I could do that," he responds wickedly, laughing at how funny he thinks he is.


	14. Chapter 14

**I love all of the reviews you're all leaving me! It's making me want to post this faster than I originally planned to! :D**

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I roll my eyes and follow the others onto the island. The layout of tthis village is strange; it wraps around the island in a ring, while the forest inside is left almost completely untouched. From what I read, I remember that the only people allowed to go near the forest are the people who are certified through a rigorous exam. THe exam is on the plants, how to cultivate the plants without getting hurt, and what to do if god forbid, you touch one of them. I don't even think I could pass the test as I am now, even though I read all of the information and procedures at least twenty times last night and reviewed it over and over this morning to help Natsu and Gray.

There are two rows of buildings, with an open path in between with small fruit, fish, and vegetable stands cluttering the walk. There are two big green houses on the southern most point of the island that uses filtered, purified water to keep plants nourished while the "farmers" of the islnd collect the crops and tend to the small number of livestock for milk, wool, eggs, and during holidays, meat. All of these goods are sold to the venders, who sell to the citizens. Some fishermen go out every few days to collect local fish and shellfish. It's a completely self sufficient island, they even make their own clothes on the island. Their biggest, and only, export is the night shade plant, stripped of the poisonous aspects of the plant so it can be used for medicines on the main continent. The money is usually just used for luxeries like candy, fragrences, higher end fabrics, and toys.

Erza leads the group through the island and I try watching the people around us; some people look at us as though we're angels come from Heaven to bring them salvation, though others look at us as though they pity and/or resent us. I try to remember their faces so I can remember to talk to themlater.

Our group finally stops at a somewhat cramped looking residential building. Erza files us all inside and we sit around a small kitchen, faced with a short, bald old man with bugged out eyes and a wide, thin mouth, the chief of the island village.

"I'm so glad you've come, Fairy Tail Mages. I don't know how much longer we could have dealt with the demon." He greets us fondly.

"We're happy to be here. We've got a few questons for you to answer before we can start solving and remedying your problem," Erza tells him. "Firstly, when did this demon start to appear?"

"It was two years ago that the demon started showing up once a month," he responds.

"During which part of the month does the demon show up?" I ask him curiously.

"Every new moon," he answers promptly.

I look at him thoughtfully for a moment, trying to remember when the next new moon is. Within the next week, I'm pretty sure.

"Can you describe the beast?" asks Erza, continuing the questions and answers process.

"No, I can't," he tells her sadly. "As the chief of this village, I'm one of the first to enter the underground evacuation shelters. I know some of my people, those in charge of evacuation, can describe the demon to you."

That's strange. You'd think the chhief would be one of the last in a shelter… wouldn't he want to make sure that his village was safe before he made sure he was? A selfish ruler, not my kind of ruler.

"Do you know what the demon shows up for?" Gray asks him.

"We don't know," the chief says sadly. "The demon will arrive from one end of the island, out of the water, and travel toward the center of the island, and then go back into the water. The demon is only here for a few hours at a time before leaving. Again, some of my people might be able to give you more information on the nature of the demon's visit."

"Could the demon be lookin' for something?" Natsu wonders.

"It sounds as though these aren't random acts of destruction," Juvia agrees. "And we considered that the demon might be searching for something when we read the flyer," she reminds Natsu.

I nod my agreement and review everything the chief had said. The demon shows up during the new moon phase of the lunar cycle, and it seems to have a purpose for coming by going directly to the center of the island, in the middle of the forest. I recall reading something about an ancient civilation living in the forest before the current settlement. Maybe they had something to do with the demon?

I stand up from my seat. "We should all split up to ask around the village," I announce.

Erza nods, agreeing. She looks at Juvia. "Juvia, you and Gray will go into the ocean to search for clues as to where the demon comes from."

Juvia's face lights up and she nods, "of course! I'd be more than happy to work with Gray."

Erza looks at Happy and Natsu. "you two will examine the island from above. See if you can spot anything noteworthy near the center of the island. Do not go into the forest if you see anything. Report back to the group what you see and we will take it from there."

"Erza," I start. "You, Wendy, Carla, and I will take a section of the island and talk to villagers."

"Yes, we'll be able to cover more ground if we split up. I will take the north end of the island."

"I'll talk to people on the Eastern end," i announce, recalling that we passed a bookstore over there and I could pick up some further information there while I'm out.

"I'll take the south end of the island," Wendy offers.

"And I'll take the western part of the island," Carla states.

We split up there to go do our jobs. Natsu and Happy launch themselves into the air first thing and Happy grabs onto Natsu to take him further up to see the whole island. Gray and Juvia head down to the beach and she creates an air bubble for him. Erza stays behind to speak with the Chief some more, while Carla, Wendy, and I split up to go to our respecting sections of the island.

My experience talking with villagers is incredibly varied. Some people seem to be thankful, some seem to be terrified for us, despite being glad we're here, others are doubtful we can do anything to help them, some think we'll die trying so we're better off just leaving. One person even started praying for me right on the spot.

"I'm beginning to think nobody here has actually seen this demon," I mutter, looking around. Nobody has told me any useful information. That village chief was full of crap, thinking his people would be able to help us.

"Demons," a man ays from behind me. I turn to face him, taking in rough features and spiritless eyes. "There is more than one demon."

"You've seen them?" I ask him curiously, hopeful that he has real data to give me.

he nods briskly. "There are at least three of them. I'm the man in charge of evacuating the civilians and I am the last person to enter a shelter right after my partner. I've seen at leas three different demons. Most people haven't seen any of them."

"Can you tell me what they do when they show up?" I ask him.

He shakes his head. "All I can see is they head toward the forest, and they don't seem to notice the damage they inflict on the village. These demons, they're huge. You won't be able to stop them."

"Oh, we'll be able to stop them," I assure him with a grin. I show him the back of my hand. "We're from Fairy Tail, and Fairy Tail doesn't give up, not until the job is done and everyone is safe."

He snorts in derision and turns to go back to his shopping.


	15. Chapter 15

I sigh and wallk on, heading toward the book store. I've talked to everyone I could on this side of the island. Hopefully the others have found out more information.

When I walk into the bookstore I make my way toward the counter. "Excuse me, could you direct me toward where I might find the books I need?" I ask the girl at the counter.

She nods and comes around to stand at attention. She helps me find the sections I need and I pick out books as we go, taking her recommendations. By the time I'm done, I have 12 books in front of me. She discounts them for me because I'm here to save the island from the demons. I leave the book store, balancing two stacks of six books in my hands.

I notice Natsu dropping down from the sky and jump back, nearly dropping my books. He takes one look at me and takes a stack of books from me.

"Why did you get all these?" he asks me. "You were supposed to be talkin' to the villagers, weren't you? We aren't here for pleasure reading."

"I did that. I thought a trip to the bookstore would be a good idea to gather all the data we might need for this job. Besides, this island has incredible history. I read through some of these books as I grabbed them and I know I'll want to add them to my collection at home. How did your aerial search go?" I ask him.

"Didn't see nothin'," he tells me. "The trees are too thick and there's too mant of them to see through." I did feel a weird energy the closer I got to the middle of the island. The lower we went, the energy got stronger. I would have checked it out but Erza said not to go in."

I nod. Magic energy coming from the middle of the island. Maybe a magic artifact that the demons are looking for? Something they need to retrieve? I make a note of it look for something like that in this reading. "Let's go back to the inn we're staying at," I suggest to him. "Hopefully once I read through these, I can help figure out what's going on."

"I bet you will," Natsu says encouragingly. "If anyone could do it, it's you."

We come to the inn and go inside to the the owner - a sweet older man, sitting behind a podium, reading a book. He looks up eagerly at us and waves us in. He wordlessly directs us to our rooms, where our bags are sitting on our respective beds. I'm sharing a room with Wendy, Erza and Juvia are sharing a second room, and Natsu has to share with Gray.

"Great," Natsu says drily when the man retreats back to his podium.

"You two can have a snoring contest,"I suggest, giggling at the look he gives me. "It won't be that bad. You've shared rooms with Gray a lot in the past, haven't you?"

"Never gets easier," he says wholeheartedly.

We walk past our rooms to the end of the hall, where the man had told us to hold our group meetings. It's the largest of the rooms, with a dining table directly in front of the door and couches and chairs spread out by the windows, a coffee table in the center of the sitting area.

Natsu and I move to sit by one of the windows on a couch. I set the books down on the coffee table and we sit awkwardly, apart from each other, staring at the stacks of books in front of us.

_What now?_ i ask myself, frustrated. I know normal couples in this situation - alone on a couch, would cuddle, make out, or… more. I don't know how to initiate any of that, and I don't even know which of those things I'm comfortable with doing. I don't know if Natsu even wants to do any of those things, either.

Why am I so hopeless at this dating thing?

"Hey, this is weird, right?" Natsu asks me.

"So weird," I agree, thankful I'm not the only one who thinks so.

"Can I try something?" he asks, inching closer to me.

"Please," I allow, letting him put his arm around me and move me toward him. I put my legs up onto the couch and he leans back a little so we're both laying down together, cuddling.

It takes us a few minutes to really figure it out so we're both comfortable. When we do finally achieve comfort, I feel as though I could stay like this forever, cuddling with him.

He's so warm, in all the best ways, and I have no words to explain it. I feel like I fit into his body perfectly, and he's holding me, almost protectively.

"I could fall asleep like this," I murmur. "You're warm."

"I should be," he says. I hear his laugh. "It's kind of my thing."

I look up at him. "What's funny?"

"We've had this conversation before. you like my warm better than the warm you get from alcohol," he says, snickering at the look on my face.

"Oh," I groan, turning red. "Did I say that?"

"Yeah, you did," Natsu responds. "Don't worry, it was cute."

"I'm just going to pretend it didn't happen," i tell him.

"I'm going to pretend I'm not seeing this," Gray says from the door. "Hey, Lucy, you wanna switch rooms with me?" he asks me. i can hear the smirk playing on his lips.

I pull away from Natsu and glare up at Gray and Juvia. Gray stares back coolly, while Juvia looks at Natsu and I, perplexed.

"No way, man," Natsu responds for me. "You've scarred Wendy enough with your freaky stripping habit."

"Yeah, I wouldn't do that to her," I add, agreeing with Natsu.

"Bet she's already scarred past recovery," Happy says, flying in through the open window behind Natsu and I. He lands on the back of the couch between Natsu and I.

"Hey, Buddy, did you find the others?" Natsu asks him.

"They'll be here soon!" Happy announces and jumps down to sit with us.

"It's no time for sleeping," Gray reminds me, sitting down in an armchair.

"I wouldn't mind doing what they were doing with you," Juvia chimes in, looking at Gray hopefully.

"Nah, I'm good," Gray tells her drily.

Juvia's expression saddens but she comes to sit down by the couch Natsu and I are on, in an armchair. "So did you three find anything?" she asks us.

"I spoke with villagers and bought some reading material that might help us," I tell her.

"I see that," Juvia chuckles, taking in the large stack of books.

"I didn't see anything from the air," Natsu tells her.

"Neither did I. I tried to find any kind of opening in the trees, but there was none. Which is weird, you'd think there would be a lot of overturned trees from where the demons walked," Happy remarks.

"One of the night shade specialists has plant magic, she brings the plants destroyed by the demon back to life," Erza says, walking into the room followed by Wendy and Carla.

"Demons," I correct her. "According to the head of the evacuation team, he's seen at least three different demons. He says they always head straight for the center of the island, and pay no mind to the destruction they cause."

"A woman I talked to said the same thing. She says she works with that man," Wendy adds. "She told me we're better off just leaving. They don't think we can help them," she says sadly.

"Oh, we'll help them," I assure her. "If it's the last thing I do. I really think I can figure this out if I can organize the information we've all gotten."

"What are all those books you've got there?" Erza asks me.

I slide off the couch and onto the floor in front of the stack. I reach up and start organizing them into five different piles. "I got these so we can collect data. I thought of a few different things we need to look into and got several books on each topic. There are books on the sea around the island, the forest inside, history and magic of the island, the lunar cycle with dates going back as far as humanity has been recording, and a book with descriptions of demons and other magical creatures that came into contact with this area." I stop, thinking for a second. "Natsu said he felt a strange energy, toward the middle of the island, so that makes me think that there's some kind of magical artifact that the demons want to take for whatever reason."

"So you think they are definitely looking for something?" Juvia asks me.

I nod. And they are coming from the ocean… Did you two find anything while you were down there?"

Gray nods. "Didn't see anything, directly, but we did find an underwater cavern of some kind and as we got closer I felt a seriously evil magic. We didn't have time to go in."

"So it's safe to assume that is where the demons reside," Erza notes.

I pick up one of the books about the sea and put on my Gale Force Reading Glasses and skim through the book until I find a section that looks promising. "It says here that there is an underwater cavern that acts as the resting place for three demons that nearly destroyed the island 350 years ago in the spring." I make a mental note of time.

"It can't be the demons we're try'n'a defeat now because those ones are dead," Natsu remarks.

"Not necessarily," I counter. "I've heard plenty of stories of demons who came back to life, or whose spirits haunt the places they once terrorized."

"So we're fighting ghosts?" Wendy asks, wide eyed.

I grimace, biting my lip. "I sure hope we aren't." I look up at Wendy for asecond before going back to the books. "This book doesn't give me a name of the demons… but 350 years ago in the spring, I can go off of that," I mumble, putting the aquatics book aside and grab one of the history books.

"Everyone, grab a book and help her gather intelligence,' Erza instructs and without question, everyone around me reaches out and takes a book from the piles around me.

We spend the next hour reading and talking about what we find. Finally, I start piecing everything together in my head.

"Okay, give me the book about the lunar cycle, the book about demons, the book about ancient magic, and the book on ancient civilizations," I instruct finally, ready to announce my theory.


	16. Chapter 16

Wendy hands over the lunar cycle book, Natsu hands me the ancient magic book, and Erza hands over the ancient civilization book. I find the demon book on the floor by Juvia.

I open them all to the pages I need and cross reference them. Everything matches up.

I start talking, "so the first thng is the demons. These demons here, the Demon lords of the sea, the wind, and the earth, all worked togetther 300 years ago to begin destroying this island. They would attack randomly, every few weeks or every month, to gather energy they got from the Night Shade plants. They did this for fifty years. There wasn't a village yet, but there was a tribe that resided in the forest," I point to the next book where the page I turned it too showed a picture of an old tribal group.

"This tribe called themselves demon slayers," I begin.

"Were they raised by demons?" Natsu asks, interrupting my train of thought.

I shake my head. "There's a rumor that a few kindly demons, like the ones we met on Galuna, helped teach some of them how to defend against evil demons, but for the most part they were all trained by human specialists."

"Oh." Natsu nods, letting me continue.

"These demon slayers would travel all over the world to defend against demons that wiizards like Zeref created, and also demons that came to be naturally. The most difficult demons they faced were the three on their own island. These three demons were as strong, if not stronger, than Deliora," I continue, glancing at Gray, whose expression reflects the seriousness of that information.

"They fought hard from the start, losing dozens of their top demon slayers in the effort. Finally, a sealing magic expert found a way to essentially kill the three demons with a spell." I point to the third book, which shows a tablet with ancient text on it. "This spell sealed the demon souls away in that cavern," I tell my friends. "The cavern that Gray and Juvia found, that's where the three demons are at rest. The spell, however, was never completed. The demons managed to kill that sealing mage before he could finish his work. It slowed them down and eventually they fled back to the ocean, where they remained."

"until now," Erza concludes.

"Two years ago they started coming back," Wendy states.

"During the new moon phase of the lunar cycle," Carla adds.

"What does that mean?" Happy asks. "Why do they come out during a new moon? is the full moon too bright for them?"

I look to the lunar cycle book. "The mage sealed them during a new moon. It's likely that they have most of their strength during that time."

"So why are they coming back once a month?" Gray asks me.

"Well it's more like every three months," I correct him. "one demons comes out and then sleeps. It sounds like they're rotating."

"What are they doing?" Gray asks again.

"They get energy from the night shade," I remind him. "I look back to the ancient magic book. Scowling, I continue. "Here's where I'm worried. They could also be looking for this spell. It's carved into stone at the center of the island, where this wizard cast the spell. Tons of analysts have studied the spell - a fellow demon slayer took it to the main land to have someone complete it, though for some reason nobody could ever officially finish the spell. The tribe disappeared. Anyway, the specialists concluded that if the written spell, or the tablet, is ever destroyed, the spell will break altogether."

"And the demons will come back full forrce?" Happy gasps, wide eyed. "We can't let that happen!"

"This spell… I think I could finish it if I study the language and learn how it should be carved," I offer, biting my lip. It would be hard, and I'm not totally confident in my ability to do it. "Maybe Erza should do it?" I suggest.

"No way," Natsu argues me. I look back at him curiously. He continues, "Luce, you just figured all of this out, basically by yourself. You're the smartest one here. Erza's strong and all, but I don't think she would be able to do it like you would."

"When's the next new moon?" Erza asks me. "How much time have we got?"

I look at the book to see the next date. I choke back a yelp. "Tomorrow night!" I exclaim. "I need to go get a book on the language." I get up to go out and buy it from that bookstore. "How could I have forgotten to get that? I'm such an idiot," I grumble.

My legs nearly give out under me and Natsu grabs me before I can collapse. "You've been using your magic this whole time?" he asks me. "Using those glasses?"

I nod bitterly.

Erza comes and takes the glasses from my face. "Someone go get the book she needs," she orders and Wendy jumps up to go do that with Carla.

"Lucy, take a break," Gray instructs me. "You're not supposed to use those nonstop for hours straight."

Natsu has his arms around my waist, so I couldn't protest if I wanted to. "So Erza, are you going to complete the spell?" I ask her.

"No. I wouldn't be able to learn the language and the magic quick enough," she informs me.

My stomach drops painfully in my gut. If Erza can't do it, nobody will be able to. Levy might be able to, but she isn't here.

"Lucy, didn't you just hear me?" Natsu asks me. "You're the smartest one here. You have to do it. The rest of us will help you any way we can."

"You're leading this job," Erza tells me.

I look up at her and shake my head. "No way, I can't do it. I'm not-."

"Yeah, you are," Juvia cuts in.

"Lucy, you figured all that out so fast. It was amazing," Gray assures me.

I look down and push Natsu's arms away, going back down to the books. "There is one thing that I think might work if I can't complete the spell," I announce.

"What's that?" Happy asks me.

"There's old lore that says a surefire method of putting spirits to rest is to burn the remains," I state. "These demons aren't totally dead, but they're pretty much there. One of these books told me that these demons are rotting slowly. That's why they're trying so hard to get the energy from night shade plants."

I look back to Natsu, who's already grinning wickedly. "Your fire burns underwater, doesn't it? I've seen you do it during training. If you can find the rotted demons remains and torch them, that might slow them down, or even stop them totally."

He nods. "I'll burn the whole cavern down if you want."

I smile, "that's a good idea. It'll ensure the demon remains really burn up."

"So Juvia and Natsu will go tomorrow to burn the remains," Erza suggests.

"And once I learn the language and the magic, I can go into the forest to find the tablet," I tell them.

"With Gray and Wendy," Erza adds. "I will stay in the village with Happy and Carla on standby for whoever needs assistance."

I agree to the plan just as Wendy comes back with three new books. "I didn't know which ancient language to get," she admits, handing me the books. "So I got a book about each of the two languages and one about the linguistics behind the two."

I look at the three books and start comparing the characters to the tablet, finding the right one. "Thank you, Wendy. I'll learn what I need to tonight so we can take care of this tomorrow."

"Lucy, you're amazing," Wendy gushes. "I can't believe you're figuring all of this out so fast! Everyone stay here, okay? I'll be right back!"

"Wait, where are you running off to?" Juvia demands, following Wendy out.

I take a deep breath and start reading through the ancient language book, trying to start learning the language. It's hard to do without my glasses to speed up the process.

Erza notices this and sighs, handing me back the glasses. "But when you're done, you take them off and go rest," she orders me.

I agree to her terms and start powering through the book, picking up the language slowly, but faster than I would have without magic.

Wendy comes back with Juvia in tow, both carrying trays of food and tea. They spread it all out on the dining table for us and Natsu picks me up, still reading, and takes me to the table.

"Take a break," he orders me.

I reluctantly set the book down when I realize I really am starving. I haven't eaten since this morning.

After we all eat, I go straight back to reading, feeling as though my energy has doubled thanks to the food. I read the language book three times to let the language really sink in. Finally, I go over the ancient magic book, just the important sections, and manage to figure out how it'll work. "I'll need to carve using a magic blade," I announce. "While fusing my own magic into the blade as I carve. Then I'll need to summon Gemini to recite the spell with me. Using gemini will increase my power so the spell will be stronger."

I have just the blade you can use," Erza tells me. "I'll arm you with several weapons so you can cut your way through the forest safely."

"Gray will lead, using his magic to clear a path," Wendy offers. "And I'll go in back to make sure it stays clear and safe. I can also watch for predators. I read that there are a lot of vicious animals lurking in the forest."

"Me and Juvia will leave in the morning to look for and burn down that cavern," Natsu tells me. "And Erza's gonna stand by in the village and if anything bad happens, she'll make sure they're all safe while we take care of the threat."

I process the plan and nod. "Gray, Wendy, we'll get going in the morning as well. The sooner we find this tablet, the sooner I can complete and recite the spell." I yawn, trying to cough to cover it up.

"You're going to bed now," Erza tells me, not fooled by my lame attempt to keep going.

"I want to double check everything," I argue.

"We'll do that and let you know if anything new comes up," Wendy assures me and comes over to pull me to my feet, plucking the glasses off my face to hand them to Erza. She takes me toward the bathroom and starts running a bath for me. She points out a robe on the back of the door and leaves me, closing the door behind her.

And I'm alone. I strip off my clothes and climb into the tub, resigned to relax for a few minutes before thoughts of the job creep back into my mind. I start reviewing the language in my head as I wash up: thinking in the language, translating average phrases in the language. I review the magic as I dry off. In my room I go over the plan in my head as I try in vain to fall asleep. Finally I resolve to sit against the wall so I can try to hear what's being said on the other side. My room is right next to the room where everyone is discussing and even if they won't let me join them, I can still eavesdrop.

I don't care if I seem and feel obsessive about this job. It's the first one where I feel like a total powerhouse, where I feel more useful than even Natsu and Erza. I need to make sure I haven't screwed anything up.

A minute after I start listening in, my door opens up and Wendy stands at the door with Natsu standing behind her.

"We knew we smelled you listening in," Wendy says accusingly.

"Thin walls, Luce. Go back to sleep," Natsu orders me.

"Can't I at least sit in there with you guys? I won't do anything," i promise.

"Then you're better off just sleeping in here," Natsu counters, coming around Wendy to scoop me up in his arms. "You've done more than your share of work today. It's time for us to take over so you can get some sleep for tomorrow."

He tucks me into the bed, almost so tight I can't move. He probably did it like that on purpose. he drops a kiss on my forehead and I hear Wendy giggle from the door. Natsu turns a bit red, embarrassed, but he turns to leave with her and I'm left alone again.

After squirming around to get comfortable in bed and loosen up Natsu's iron tuck-in, I finally manage to fall asleep. In my dreams, I watch the plan play out over and over, while ancient spells float around me; the words I'd spent hours reading earlier. The last thing I see before waking up, startled, is one of the demons catching sight of me and reaching out for me.


	17. Chapter 17

**Man, this is where I'm gonna start getting nervous. Up until now there was a lot of fluff. We're getting into the actual serious stuff I thought up.**

**I hope it doesn't suck, that's all I can say.**

* * *

When my eyes open, I sit in bed for a few minutes, trying to remember the dream I was just having, watching it slip further and further away from me the more I try to remember.

Something crashes into the wall above me, from Natsu and Gray's room. I sit up in bed and turn around, glaring at the spot where I'd felt something crash. "Already?" I groan, looking out the window. it can't be more than eight in the morning.

"Do you have to sleep commando?" I can hear Natsu shouting at Gray. "That's disgusting and creepy!"

"I am so sick of your flame breathed snoring," Gray counters angrily. "I swear you almost burned the whole place down three times while you were asleep!"

I groan again and knock at the wall to tell them to shut up. They go silent for a moment before I hear more crashing and jump out of bed.

I stomp over to their room and slam the door open to glare at them. "You two are ridiculous," I snap at them, ignoring Gray, who's stark naked. Happy wakes up at my outburst and yawns, stretching his body awake.

"Jeez, Lucy, do you have to be so loud first thing in the morning?" he whines.

It's then that I remember what we're doing today. My eyes widen and I turn on my heel to go into the big sitting room. my books are all stacks up neatly against the wall with my glasses sitting on top. I grab them and the two most important books and turn to go back to my room to read. Natsu's standing behind me, blocking my path.

"Good morning," he greets with a smile.

I smile, "it's alright. Are you and Juvia ready for your part?" I ask him.

"Yeah. After we all eat breakfast and go over everything one last time, we'll all break up and do what we need to," He tells me, taking the books from me. "After breakfast," he repeats pointedly.

"Alright, alright. I give," I tell him, holding up my hands in surrender. "I just want too make sure I have everything right," I confide. "I'm so nervous about today."

"We checked over everything for you last night while you were asleep. Everything adds up exactly how you said. I'll try that burning bones theory of yours, while you do your thing finishing that spell. It'll go off without a hitch," he assures me, taking my hands in his.

I smile up at him and give him a kiss on the cheek. I walk around him to go into my room, where Wendy and Carla are both starting to wake up.

We three get dressed in silence to get ready for the day. She sits at the small vanity and I do up her hair in her preferred high pig tails and then she does the same for me. When we're all done, the three of us go back onto the dining/sitting room where breakfast is all set up. The old man who runs the inn is standing near the dining table, beaming at his work. Juvia and Natsu are already sitting at the table while Erza and Gray are looking over the books in the corner.

"I thought we weren't doing anything job related until after breakfast," I say pointedly.

"We just wanted to divide up the material for everyone to look through. We decided eeveryone would take the information that they might need with them." Erza tells me and comes over to take her seat at the head of the table. I sit down next to Natsu, while Wendy sits opposite Erza at the other end of the table and Gray sits across from Juvia. Carla and Happy sit beside him in the remaining two seats.

We eat the breakfast that the villagers offered us, that the inn keeper fixed up, in silence at first. I'm not one for a ton of conversation in the morning, neither is Erza or Happy. Natsu is never not energetic and talkative, and Wendy is always cheerful, so they talk while the rest of us just eat.

After breakfast I go straight for the pile Erza made for Gray, Wendy and I. The book on the plants and animals of the forest, the book on magic, and the book featuring the ancient demon slayers. Gray and Wendy follow me over and we sit around and review everything together.

Juvia and Natsu grab their books, the book on sea life and the book describing the underwater geographical layout. They leave the inn to talk about it outside. Erza, Happy, and Carla leave to inform the chief of our plans.

"Wendy and I read everything last night," Gray assures me after the third time I asked him if they were ready for this.

"I even learned the language and the magic so I can help you write the spell if you need it. I didn't memorize it as well as you did, but I should be able to help you a little," Wendy says optimistically.

"Alright then. Shall we go?" I ask them and put the books in my backpack. I clip the sheathed knife onto my back and watch Wendy equip her own weapons to her clothes. Gray refused any weapons. he can make his own, after all.

I leave the inn first; Gray had to help Wendy with one of the weapons because she could figured out how to clip the sheathed sword onto her clothes. I find Natsu and Juvia sitting on a bench, both reading.

When Juvia looks up to see, she inches away from Natsu, though they are already on opposite ends of the bench. "Lucy, I promise that just because we're working together, I don't like him or anything," she says quickly.

"Oh, that breaks my heart, Juvia," Natsu says drily. "Like, not even as a friend? I think you're a little weird but I still like you as a friend at least."

"Juvia, you're so warped," I laugh and take a seat between them. "Don't worry, juvia, I trust you," I assure her with a smile. Juvia might be a bit weird when it comes to love, and she tends to be completely fixated on relationships, dating, crushes, and all that, but she's a good friend to have despite all that. "So how's the studying going?" I ask them both.

"Boring," Natsu says quickly. "Who cares about fish predators? I can cook 'em all up and feed 'em to Happy before one ever tries to get in my way."

"And I'm not that concerned about them either," Juvia tells me. "When Gray and I went down there, the fish all just left us alone."

"Well, then, you two should be fine," I say, thankful for that. if I screw up on my job, at least I can rely on them to finiish theirs without a problem.

Gray and Wendy come out of the inn then and I stand up to join them. Natsu reaches out and takes my hand.

"Be careful," he tells me quietly.

"You too," i respond and he lets me go.

Gray, Wendy, and I head into the forest in the order that we discussed earlier; Gray is in front while Wendy is in the back. I'm taking up the middle, watching the forest cautiously as we go. Gray's pushing us through the thickeing foliage and I'm cutting through anything he misses so Wendy won't get hit in the face with poisonous plants.

Eventually I spot a pile of rubble on the ground. "Hold on, come this way," i instruct the others, cutting a new path through the plants. "I think I found a good place to start looking."

"I can see why Natsu couldn't see anything from the air," Wendy remarks, looking up. "Even though this particular is kind of sparce with plants, the bigger trees surrounding this area completely branch out to coverthis clearing up."

"I get what he meant by a weird feeling, too," Gray adds.

I nod, looking around. I spot the grave yard where the demon sllayers were buried. "The book said that the spell would be somewhere around these tombs." I hold up Virgo's key. "Open: Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!"

She appears in a flurry of purple sparks in front of me. "yes, Princess? How may I serve you?"

"Virgo, I need you to help us dig something up," i tell her and flip through the ancient magic book to show her the tablet.

"Will there be punishment if I don't find it?" she asks curiously.

"If you don't find it we'll probably all die, so that's the punishment," I tell her as I start scanning the area.

"I'll do my best," Virgo promises and starts digging holes, popping in and out of the ground at rapid speed.

Gray and Wendy use their magic to help them dig around the area. Together, the four of us have dug around the entire circumfrence of the clearing. FInally, Virgo starts digging closer to the grave yard, digging directly in front of a large head stone. When she comes back out, she stops.

"Princess, this might interest you. There is a door below the surface, here," she says, pointing into the hole. "It's locked."

"Leave that to me," Gray announces, going into the hole. I hear a crashing sound a second latr and another minute later he comes back out, lookign perplexed. "Lucy, you need to see this."

"Is it the tablet?" I ask him, going to join him. I jump down into the hole andsee the door he'd blasted in with ice magic. It takes a second for me to crawl through the door because it's so small. I can't believe my eyes.

"The spell is," I pause turning in place to see the writing on the walls. "This whole room is the spell," I conclude, wide eyed.

At the center of the room, there is a tablet. I go to look at it as Wendy comes crawling through the door. "Well, here's the tablet," I announce.

Gray comes in behind Wendy and I feel Virgo close her own gate, her job complete. I read the tablet in front of me, my brow creased. It's strange: I thought that this tablet was the full spell, but it's only the end, the piece the sealing magge never completed. The whole room itself, the writing on the walls, is the spell.

I look around and find the empty space where I should finish the spell. "So I don't need to invent the end of the spell," I state thoughtfully, 'but I need to just transcribe what's on this tablet onto the wall. But I need to make sure I don't screw up any of the characters while writing, or I'll recite it wrong, and if I recite it wrong, it's likely this whole spell will nullify itself and the demons will come back to life full time."

"No pressure," Gray says, almost sarcastically. Wendy elbows him in the ribs. "I'll go out there and make sure everything is going okay above ground. Let me know if you need anything, Lucy."

He leaves and Wendy comes to sit down on the ground in front of the table where the tablet is resting. She hugs her knees to her chest to take up as little room as possible so she won't block my view of anything.

"What time is it?" I ask her, almost sharply.

"It's twelve, noon," Wendy informs me. As the sky dragon, she has an impeccable sense of time.

"And the demons will show up at around six, if Natsu burning the bones doesn't work," I state. "So I want to be done with this by four. So I'll read and review the spell and the language to make sure this tablet is the appropriate ending to the spell, I'll recite it mentally a few times, and then I will call Gemini to help me recite it aloud. With double my magic power, it should be enough magic to make the spell work."

"I'll support you if you need me," Wendy offers.

I nod and get to work.


	18. Chapter 18

Reading the spell on the wall in my head, I manage to remain calm, knowing Wendy is here, confident in me, despite my own worries. I look through the book to check pronunciations and repeat a word a few times to make sure I have it right. After doing this for about two hours, I move on to carving the spell. I heft the stone tablet over to the empty space on the wall and reach into my bag for the special blade Erza had give me. The blade itself is an infusion of lacrima and steel. It takes little effort me to fuse my magic energy into it and it starts glowing.

It's surprisingly easy to carve into the rock wall. Erza had given me the perfect blade for this. it's so thin it's like I'm writing with a real pen. It takes me close to an hour to transcribe what's on the tablet onto the wall, checking and double checking the characters before writing them.

Finally, I'm done. All I want to do now is go over the spell a few times in my head to make sure it flows properly. If I mess this up it'll be game over.

"I'm sure Natsu and Juvia have done their job by now too," Wendy says cheerfully when she sees that I'm done transcribing. She comes to move the tablet back onto the table so it's out of my way.

"I just need to go over this spell a few time. Would you mind reviewing it too? A second pair of eyes could be a big help," I tell her.

She comes to my side and starts reading he spell, muttering some parts of it to herself. It sounds like we're on the same page when it comes to pronounciation. I'm thankful for that.

Outside I hear a rumbling noise. "Wendy, get up here!" Gray calls, sounding alarmed. Oh no.

She looks up and scrambles out of the room, immediately followed by Carla coming in.

"We have a problem," she says, panicking. "You were wrong. Natsu burning those bones didn't send those spirits away, it angered them. They've all surfaced."

"All of them?!" I yelp, mortified. _What have I done?_

"Are you ready to recite the spell?! It's now or never! Erza, Juvia, and Natsu are fighting on the beach, but two of them got past them. Happy is trying to distract one and I must go help him, but the two are making their way here now."

I nod, understanding. "I was hoping to have more time to make sure I got it right, but I'll have to assume it's all right!" I get my keys. "Open: Gate of the twins! Gemini!"

The twins appear in front of me as Carla rushes back outside. I hear the crashing coming closer and closer, and I take a deep breath, trying to stay calm. I summon Leo and Aries and they immediately run out to help Gray and Wendy.

"Gemini, transform into me! We need to recite this spell together!" I tell them quickly. They glow for a second before I'm faced with myself. They chose to copy me in the pink dress I wore to see Oliver. I ignore the dress and join hands with myself.

As we begin reciting the spell, I feel the ground around us begin to shake, both from the power of the spell, and from the demons approaching the area. I can hear everyone yelling and fighting the demons, but I try to block them out so I can focus.

One of the demons starts to pound at the ground above Gemini and and it actually manages to open up the hole Virgo had made. It tears the ceiling off the room I'm in and the room starts filling up with dirt, twigs, dead and live plants. I can feel the plants scratching and rubbing against my legs, but I ignore the sensation and press on. I know my friends will keep those demons away while I finish up the spell.

In the corner of my eye I can see one of the demons reaching out to crush me with its huge fist. Wendy launches herself up in front of it. "Sky Drago's Roar!"

I speak on. I'm half way done. The rumbling of the samll room increases as I go and it's all I can do to keep my balance in the shaking room. Gemini's grip tightens on my hand, sensing this.

The second demon lowers its foot down to squish me, but Gray comes flying at the foot, "Cold Axcalibur!" he snarls, cutting the foot clean off, sending it flying to the side. Demon blood start spurting everywhere, though disgusting, I ignore it.

Nearly done. Gemini and I take a few steps over to finish off the spell and we finally complete it. I finally let myself fall to my knees, staring through my lashes, up at the one footed demon coming back at me. The demon blood on my arms and face burn, as I'd expect. Human's aren't supposed to come into contact with demon blood like this.

The demons both start glowing a violent red color. I allow myself a smile. I did it!

Gemini hugs me around the shoulders. "You did it, you did it!" she cheers in their own voices, in sync with each other. I look up at myself and my smile widens.

"Thanks to you," I say to them.

Above me, I can see Leo and Aries back to back, both staring at the demons. Gray is at one end of the clearing and Wendy is on the other. None of them are close enough to me. none of them see the demon make one last desperate swipe in my direction.

Gemini vanishes upon impact and the demon grabs me, stabbing my in the stomach with its claw. It flings me up and out of the hole, swingging me at the forest trees. I crash through three of them, impaling my shoulder, landing in a patch of berry bushes. I can feel the poisonous juices splattering all over my backside as I land.

The last thing I see is the two demons bursting in an angry red light, completely obliterated. The last thing I hear is my friends yelling my name. The last thing I feel is someone grabbing me before I black out.

* * *

**Mwahahahaha! -Evil writer laugh-**


	19. Chapter 19

I wake up again, hearing a blood curdling sound filling the air. When I realize it's me making that noise I try muffling the sound. I try choking out a question but the worda won't form so I just try staying quiet.

"Wendy, she'a awake," Natsu says frantically. he looks down at hi,, putting his face close to mine. "Lucy, you'll be okay! Can you hear me?"

I nod my head, slowly, painfully. I dare not open my mouth to speak.

"Natsu, do it! I have to tend to this poison and the demon blood burns!" Wendy exclaims from my side. I can feel the things she's talking about swirling around angrily in my body, numbing it.

I feel a rush of the poison burning through my esophagus. Turning over quickly, i vomit an entire spectrum of colors onto somebody's lap. "I'm sorry," i tell them, my voice high pitched, frantic, wild.

"Hold her down," I hear Natsu tell the person and they obey, taking my shoulders and moving me back down onto my back and holding me there. Natsu takes my shoulder, my abdomen and watches my face with pained eyes. "I'm so sorry for this," he says, tears flowing from his eyes. "I have to stop the bleeding because Wendy is getting rid of the poison! I'm so sorry, Lucy!"

His hands ignite in controlled, concentrated flames around my shoulder and gut. The direct impact shocks me and my body reacts all on it's own, flinching, flailing, trying to push Natsu off me.

"Stop," I plead weakly. "It hurts, it all hurts!"

Someone new grabs my hands so I can't push Natsu off. I can feel Natsu's tears falling onto my body, even they burn my skin.

"Can't you do something to calm her down while we heal her?" a small, frantic voice asks from above me, I can barely see Happy standing at my head through blurred eyes.

I feel Wendy's small hand on my forehead a moment later. It glows a pink color and I feel my eyes flutter shut, putting me back to a state of unconsciousness.

It's not sleep, if it were, I would be dreaming.

THis is blackness. I can't feel anything, I can't see or hear anything, I can't comprehend anything. It lasts hours, days even. I don't know, it might only be a few seconds before I open my eyes again, most of the pain gone, in a hospital room.

No, not a hospital room, a small makeshift infirmary on the island of Atropine. I'm laying here alone in this room and I can hardly move.

I test out my hands, I can wiggle them fine but when I try lifting them up, my arms won't move. They're numb. I try to move my legs, but I can't feel those at all. "What happened?" I grumble, wondering where my friends are.

"You're not allowed to forget this," Natsu says, coming through the door a second later with Wendy on his heels.

"Lucy! Tell me, how are you?" Wendy asks me quickly, coming to my side.

"I feel like I'm going to puke," I warn her. She gives Natsu a look as she grab a basin from the floor next to my bed. Natsu puts his arm under my back and lifts me into a sitting position. On cue, I throw up into the basin Wendy has prepared.

"The poison is still effecting you," Wendy starts explaining. Natsu props a few pillows behind me so I stay up. "I got most of it out but I couldn't get it all, especially considering you had a ton of other injuries I had to take care of."

I look down at my shoulder, the burns on my arms, and I my gut feels as though someone stabbed me with a jagged knife. "It feels like you're right," i tell her.

She nods sullenly. "I had to treat the demon blood burns, your shoulder where the tree's shatter wood impaled you, your stomach was torn due to the demon's claw catching you in the gut. Stomach acid starting causing internal injuries. It was hard, but we all managed to stabilize you and now I'm going to treat you every hour until you're al heealed. I'm restricting your diet until your stomach is all healed - don't worry I can give you nourishment with my magic," she finishes, thinking to make sure she mentioned everything.

"You don't remember it?" Natsu asks me, sounding irritated. "Really?"

"Why are you mad?" I ask him, feeling defensive. "I…" it does start to come to me then. The spell, the two demons, one of them caught me and sent me flying into the trees. Afterward, I see flashes of my friends around me, Wendy healing me. Natsu crying, holding me down, "you stopped the bleeding," I murmur, shock settling in. "on my belly and shoulder."

He looks away from me.

"Juvia came in and tried cooling the burns before they could scar, but I don't know how much good it did," Wendy tells me. "I'm sorry, you might have some noticeable scars after this."

"I don't mind," I tell her honestly. "I'd rather be alive with some scars than dead."

"You almost died," Natsu says quietly. "If that wood had been any closer to your spine…"

My eyes start drooping again, but I don't want to sleep yet. "Are you okay? Carla said I shouldn't have told you to burn the corpses."

"He'll tell you about it later," Wendy cuts in, moving to lie me back down. "Sleep and I'll do my healing."

I grumble in protest but I know she's right. Sleeping is probably the fastest way for me to heal now.

I lock eyes with Natsu's unreadable eyes and drift off to sleep, feeling Wendy's warm healing on my belly.

This time, thankfully, I dream. Unfortunately, I'm dreaming of those demons, of being attacked and punished for trying to destroy them. In my dream, casting the complete spell failed, I screwed up the transcription.

The first thing that hapens when I finish talking is the wall in front of me starts cracking and the spell crumbles. I look up to see my friends fighting the demons, but the demons get exponentially stronger.

First, one of them overpowers Leo and Aries easily, crushing them and sending them back to the Celestial Spirit World. Another one jabs a hooked claw at Wendy and catches her chest, ripping her apart and killing her on the spot. Finally, the other demon bats at Gray, flinging him into the woods, landing him in a thick patch of poisonous night shade flowers. I watch as the poison slowly colors his whole body and he dies on the spot.

"No, no, no," I moan, tears running down my face.

"How could you have been so careless?" Gemini says in their original forms. "You're friends are all dying thanks to you."

One of the demosn grabs at me, flicking Gemini away and sending them back to their world. The demons picks me up, leaving me mostly unharmed, and lifts me high above the trees so I can see the whole island.

On the beach, surrounded by Juvia, Natsu, and Erza, is one last demon. Happy and Carla are watching nearby, Carla must not know yet…

I watch my boyfriend battle this demon with everything he's got. He tears at the beast with flaming claws, iron fists, and flame embedded roars but nothing is working.

Erza and Juvia are doing what they can, but weapons are having no effect on this demon, while water attacks aren't working because this is the sea demon lord.

Which is also why Natsu's having trouble. It doesn't matter how much fire he can produce underwater. Against a dea demon, fire is almost ineffective.

"No, no, no," I groan, struggling against the demon'that's holding me. I don't want to watch this. "Let me go! Natsu, get out of there!"

"Lucy! Wake up, Luce!" Someone shouts in my face, finally waking meup. Natsu has one hand on my non-injured shoulder and the other hand on my face. he's looking at me, concerned.

* * *

**Aaaaaand that hurt. Writing it was bad enough, but going back and rereading it? Ow. Poor Lucy. Guess she's not gonna die yet though. **

**and I've been kind of lazy editing before I post. Can you tell? Oh well.**


	20. Chapter 20

One hand on her uninjured shoulder, the other on her face, I try waking her up from this nightmare she's having. She's mumbling the word "no" over and over, at one point mumbling "let me go, Natsu get out of there." What the hell is going on in that dream of hers?

"Lucy!" I shout in her face, shaking her a little bit. "Wake up, Luce!"

Her eyes open. Finally.

She looks at me, her eyes terrified and wild. I smile at her to let her know we're all okay. "Hey."

"I was dreaming?"

"Sounded more like you were having a nightmare," Gray remarks from behind me. Lucy looks around me to see him and Wendy standing there.

And I can smell the bile building in Lucy's throat. "Oh, god," she groaans at the sight of Gray and Wendy. Frantically, I find the basin Wendy keeps by Lucy's bed and thrust it under Lucy's chin, lifting her up so she's sitting upright.

When she's done hacking and choking, Wendy comes and takes the basin and Lucy falls back onto her pillow. "I don't even want to think about that nightmare," she murmurs, lifting her arms, covering her eyes. "it won't go away. Why is it normal dreams fade and nightmares stick around?"

"Lucy?" I prompt, curious and worried.

"You should tell us why lookin' at Wendy and me made you puke," Gray tells her, an edge in his voice.

She looks back up at him and scowls. "I failed."

"What? No, you did great on that mission. We'd all be dead if it wasn't for you."

"Exactly. in the nightmare, i failed."

That sinks in and the room falls silent, all eyes on her.

"It was horrible," she continues, her voice strained. "And graphic. I woke up before I could see Natsu die but the others…"

She's crying now. She's overwhelmed and freaking out. I understand why she's upset, but I don't know what I should do to help her. It's so annoying, not knowing what to do for her.

"Lucy, I'm going to put you back to sleep. I can make it so you won't dream, so the sleep will be deeper, and you'll feel better waking up," Wendy offers her. "My healing is going well, by the looks of how much better you're moving."

Lucy nods, "I'm sorry I'm being such a pain," she apologizes, her voice cracking. "I'm sorry I let that demon catch me. I could have been moving around instead of just standing there."

"Hey, we were all standing around watching. We should have known the demon would make a last swipe at you and been closer to you to protect you," Gray argues. "There's a lot of 'if onlys' about what happened, but we can't do anything about it now so don't stress yourself out about it."

I look back at Gray darkly, "she almost died," I say coldly.

"You think I don't know that?!" Gray snaps back at me, his eyes hard.

Wendy goes to knock Lucy out before Gray and I really get into it and I wait for Lucy to be asleep before continuing. "The only reason I was cool with her going with you and Wendy is I thought she'd be safe from something like that happening!" I tell him. "Wendy's a dragon slayer and you're _supposed_ to be strong too."

"We did everything we could to keep the demons off her while she was doing her job," Gray counters. "We were all scattered all over that clearing. There's no way we could have known the demon would be able to attack even after the spell was complete."

"Natsu," Wendy says softly. "I'm sorry you're upset, but please don't blame us for this. It happened, and I feel terrible that I couldn't protect her from it like I promised I would… Like Gray said, there's no use dwelling on what happened. Now the best thing we can do it be here for her while she heals."

"How's that going, by the way?" Gray asks her before I can respond to her.

Wendy shakes her head, like she's trying to shake her thoughts into line. "Well, she's mostly suffering from trauma, from the sound of that nightmare. I think that maybe because one part of the plan she put together failed, she feels as though the whole thing failed, so that's why her subconscious is putting her through dreams like that."

"Okay? So what do we do about that?" Gray asks Wendy.

"We need to ease her through everything that happened, explain to her that it was a success, that she did an amazing job overall planning and executing the strategy," Wendy starts. "We need to show her we're all safe, healthy despite some wounds we got from the battle. Once she sees that, knows we're all safe, and knows she saved the village, the trauma should lessen."

"What about her body?" I ask her, processing the mental health stuff. It sounds easy enough. I mean, I have some bad scratches here and there, but I'll be able to show Lucy I'm totally fine. The person who got the worst of the battle besides Lucy is Juva, who was in the water when I switched to lightning flame dragon mode. She assures me that she'll be fine, but I still feel horrible that I didn't see her in time to stop the release of lightning into my attacks. Gray's like me and got some scratches, Wendy accidentally stepped in some poison berry bushes. The villagers had to heal her because she can't heal herself. Erza didn't get hurt at all, and Happy and Carla are both fine.

"First and most serious is the poison. She was covered head to toe from that poison berry juice, and it seeped into her body quickly. I removed all of the poison I could from vital areas. The villagers helpeed me with the poison so that's all gone but the paralyzing effects are still a problem. Next, she was splattered with demon blood while she was reciting the spell," she continues. She grimaces, "demon blood has a burning effect on human flesh. I did everything I could to get rid of those burns, though there might be some scarring on her body. I did everything I could to get rid of any scars on her face, because I know she'd be fine with other scars as long as they aren't on her face."

"and what about the wound in her belly and her shoulder?" I ask Wendy. Those two, I care about most. Those are the places I had to burn her.

"Her stomach was punctured by the demon claw, so I had to repair that and the damage to her other organs that the stomach acid caused. I'm still repairing that damage, I couldn't do it all at once. And her shoulder, that will be fine. She'll have a scar there, I couldn't get rid of that burn scar because it was severe, and it had to be," she adds quickly when my face darkens. "The bleeding wouldn't have stopped if the fire wasn't hot enough. And the burn scar on her belly is going to take a while to fade, but that one should go away because I got to that one fast enough," Wendy concludes.

"So how long are we going to be here? She can't be moved until she can at least walk around a little on her own," says Gray.

"If I keep healing her every hour, taking away the paralysis from the poiison, fixing her digestive system, healing the burns, and when she can eat solid food without throwing up, then we cann move her," Wendy says. "I think maybe two days."

"And it's already been three," Recalls Gray.

"So we gotta help her mental health first," I blurt.

"We need to help her get over the trauma," Wendy confirms. "Then she should be able to rest easy without my putting her to sleep. Natural sleep is the best thing she could have now."

So that's what we do for the next two days. Lucy wakes up every now and then and I tell her everything that happened. Juvia comes in with Erza to see Lucy, we all show and tell Lucy how great we feel, how much we want her to get better, and it seems like it worked because the next day Lucy falls asleep on her own and sleeps for a full ten hours without any nightmares.

On the last day, Lucy gets up all on her own to go to the bathroom and walk around. I watch her carefully, ready to pounce at any hint of trouble. Trouble never comes.

"The last obstacle," Wendy says, coming into the room with a tray of food. Just some vegetable sticks, fruit, and toast. Carla floats in carrying a tray of tea. "Eat this. if you can hold this down, we can get you back to the main continent."

"I'm absolutely starving," Lucy exclaims, her eyes locked on the tray. "How long has it been since I ate any real food?"

"Five days," I tell her.

Lucy grabs a carrot stick and crunches into it, grinning.

"I've never seenn anyone so happy to eat carrots," I tell her, smiling.

"You go five days without food and you'll be happy to eat anything," Lucy counters.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Wendy answers.

"Pickled plums?" I ask her. She makes a face at me. Lucy laughs.

Lucy manages to keep everything down and Wendy makes me leave to tell the others, Erza heads straight for the dock to tell our ride home. Gray and I pack up our stuff and Juvia gets Lucy's stuff together. We all take a couple of Lucy's books and head out to the ship. When my stuff is all droped off, I head back to the infirmary where the village leader is visiting Lucy. Carla's sitting on the bed watching Lucy walk around apprehensively.

Lucy changed while I was out. She looks cute in that green, beaded, dress she got from one of the village women.

"I'm so sorry you were so badly wounded protecting my people," he's saying to her when I come in.

"I'm just glad I could help," she tells him with a smile. "I'll heal in no time. My friends have been taking amazing care of me. Oh! And can you thank those poison control specialists who helped Wendy?" she asks him.

"Of course," he approaches her. "I've already paid your friends their share of their trouble," he starts, holding his hand out to her. "Here's your share, and I've paid you a bit extra."

"Oh, no way," she argues. "It's fifty thousand jewel extra. i couldn't."

"You can and will. Please, as my personal thanks for all you've done. I'm sure your friends would agree you deserve it," he argues.

"Just take it, Luce," I encourage her. "You deserve every bit of it."

She holds out her hand after a second and takes the bag from him. She smiles. "Thanks!"

He nods, bowing awkwardly, and moves around me, out the door.

I look at Lucy. "You ready? We have everything loaded onto the boat. Wendy's getting her stuff now I think."

She nods. I can see she looks like she's getting tired from being on her feet so much. I walk up to her and turn around, motioning for her to get on my back.

"No," she argues. "I can walk on my own."

"Get on," Carla orders her. "You've been up far too much and Wendy told you this would be how you'd be transported to the ship, didn't she? She doesn't want you to push yourself after being out for so long."

I reach back and pull Lucy onto my back so she can't argue. I follow Carla outside and the first thing I see is Happy dropping out of the sky.

"Lucy! Lucy, I was so worried and they wouldn't let me come in to see you as much as I wanted but I snuck in sometimes while Natsu was asleep to make sure you were okay. How do you feel?" Happy asks without pause.

Lucy laughs. "Wait, you snuck in while I was asleep?" I ask him, confused.

"Yeah. I'm not talking to you right now though!" Happy chides me. I roll my eyes and start walking toward the dock.

"Happy, I'm fine. Apparently I'm not fine enough because they won't let me walk on my own," Lucy says.

"Because of the poison right? Your legs are probably still unstable," Happy points out to her.

"See?" I ask her. She needs to stop acting like she didn't almost die five days ago.

"shush." She puts her head on my shoulder. "I'm glad we're going home though."

I nod.

On the boat I watch Wendy, Erza, and Juvia settle Lucy into a makeshift infirmary bed in a cleared out storage room. Wendy comes over to me and puts her hands out.

"Troia," she casts as the ship starts moving.

It doesn't work.


	21. Chapter 21

I sit up in my bed for almost the whole trip. Gray sits in with me to keep the room cool for me, basically by just breathing his cold breath and sitting around, emitting cool air. It sometimessurprises me how similar he is to Natsu in a completely opposite way.

Wendy won't let Natsu into the room at all because she doesn't want him getting sick in front of me and causing me to get sick or something. It wouldn't happen, but I don't argue with her.

Wendy warned me that the trip might be rough because of a threatening storm looming overhead.

But it didn't bother me much. Despite her warning, the crasuhing waves rocking the boat around didn't irritate me much. Eventually, I just ignored them altogether and went to sleep. When I woke up again, we were docking at Hargeon Port.

I walk myself off the boat despite everyone's protests. I turn to face my friends sternly. "Stop worrying about me. If I need help from you I will ask. Stop treating me like I can't do anything myself."

I catch Erza smiling at that. I turn to continue off the dock and take a seat on a bench to wait for our stuff. Erza sits beside me and Happy comes to sit in my lap.

"You've grown so strong since you joined us," Erza tells me. "I believe that before Tenrou, you wouldn't have been able to handle something like what you just endured with half the strength and grace you're showing us now."

I blush, "thank you, Erza," I mumble, not feeling deserving of praise from the S class Erza Scarlet. Sure I'm not complaining like I would have then, but I still feel like I've got a long way to go. Natsu or Gray could probably have gone through all that and gotten right up and walked it off. It took me five days. I need to become more resiliant and durable. I keep this to myself though.

A car comes and pulls right up in front of the bench I'm sitting on. I watch it, confused. Wendy steps up and opens the door for me. This is a medical vehicle.

"Oh, you didn't," I say in disbelief.

"I want to make absolutely sure you're healed!" Wendy explains to me. "Please? it'll take us right back to Magnolia hospital. You and I will go, while the others go on the train."

I think about it. it's probably for the best that I go. Everyone else seems to agree.

I stand up and notice Natsu's expression. He was miserable for hours - not just because of the motion sickness, but because he couldn't sit with me like he'd wanted to do. I reach out for his hands and kiss him, letting him know I love him no matter what. He smiles and I turn to go into the car. Wendy follows me in and we get going.

The car is a lot faster than I thought it'd be. What would normally be an hour train ride is only half an hour in this car. "Medical vehicles are the fastest in Fiore," Wendy tells me when she catches my surprised expression at already being in Magnolia. "They're so fast so they can respond to emergencies as quickly as possible."

"Let's get this over with so we can go to the guild hall before Natsu and the others get back," I suggest and we go inside the hospital, ignoring the man who came outside with a wheelchair for me.

The doctors put me through a few different tests to check to make sure the poison is really all gone, that my shoulder and stomach healed properly, and they check the demon burns. I'm all cleared in twenty-five minutes.

Five minutes later I'm standing in the guild hall, being attacked by a weeping Mirajane, an ecstatic Levy, and a relieved Lisanna. Everyone else is happy to see me too.

"Break out the booze!" Cana cheers, already gripping a beer.

"That's out Lucy! Getting poisoned and thrown around by demons and coming out of it like a real man!" Elfman booms.

"Uh," I'm about to point out that I'm a girl when the doors open behind me and Natsu comes in with the others. His face brightens when he sees me.

"This means that you're all clear?" he asks me. "the doctors said you're fine?"

I nod and he pumps his fist up in the air in delight. I laugh at his reaction and the party ensues. Cana's wishes were granted and alcohol is passed around to everyone. Despite the doctor's warning me against alcohol I take a mug of beer.

"We were all so worried about you,, Lucy," Mirajane says for the fifth time.

"Ah, what are you talking about?" Master Makarov asks her. "Tough as nails this one."

"You kidding?" I ask Master Makarov with a laugh. "That demon kicked my ass."

"After you completed an ancient spell in a dead language that made those three demons die for good," Gray counters.

"After solving the whole situation in just hours," Juvia adds.

"Though that shoulder wound was pretty disgusting," Gray recalls.

"I disliked the stomach wound more," Juvia counters.

"Are you kidding? her backside was an abomination with all the skin reactions to the poison," Erza argues.

"Thanks, guys," I say drily. "Oh! By the way, who did I throw up on? I just remembered that happened."

"Erza," Natsu answers, snickering. "It would have been funny if you weren't dying."

"You say it so bluntly," Lisanna remarks, scowling at him.

I look up at Erza. "Sorry about that," I tell her earnestly. I take the last drink of my beer. "So who wants to go to the bath house? I could really use it," I tell my female friends.

"I'm in!" Levy announces.

"Me too," Wendy and Lisanna say in sync.

"I'll go," Cana states.

"Mind if Asuka and I come?" Bisca asks me.

"Please, Lu?" Asuka asks, giving me puppy dog eyes.

"Asuka, it wouldn't be any fun without you," I tell her solemnly.

I give Natsu a kiss goodnight, "Come over tomorrow? I think I'm just going to stay in my apartment for the day to relax."

He nods, "I'll see you there! Have fun doing your girl thing. You gonna talk about how awesome I am? Do that gossiping thing you said you all do?"

"Probably," I tell him, dreaming of warm water and scented bath salts. The gossiping is just chitchat. "Play would you rather, never have I ever, braid each other hairs, drink flavored milk. Girl stuff." Even though we probably won't do most of those things.

During the bath I tell everyone who wasn't there all about the job. Levy was the most interested, "you kept those books, right?" she asked when I mentioned the ancient magic and language.

"I'm impressed with how quickly you figured it all out," Bisca tells me, in awe.

"Yeah! Lu is amazing," Asuka beams cheerfully from her mother's side.

When I've had my fill of soaking in the rejuvinating waters,I bid my farewells to the others. Bisca and Asuka get out too - It's way past Asuka's bed time. They walk me home on the way to their own home, where Alzack is waiting for them, I'm sure.

When I let myself into the apartment I go straight to my bedroom, strip off my clothes and pull on some comfortable pajamas. The instant I crawl into my bed, I fall asleep, completely exhausted from the past week.


	22. Chapter 22

Lucy slept through most of the next few days. I went to see her and brought food over for her when I wasn't fixing up my house. I'd burned a lot of it, managing to protect the memorabilia, but there was a lot of work I had to do to fix it up again.

"You know, I should really fire proof this place," I tell Happy after finishing the new roof.

"Or you could stop accidentally setting things on fire," Happy suggests.

I shrug. "Whatever. Wanna go get something to eat?"

"Aye!"

The next few days start getting so boring I can barely stand it. Lucy's been leaving her apartment, but she goes off into the woods to train with Capricorn, when she's not doing that she's reading and hanging out with Levy. I start to wonder if she'll ever want to go on a job again.

Seven days after we came home from Atropine, I'm looking at the request board to see if I can find something that looks both fun and easy for Lucy's sake. I find one that looks promising, and the reward will be a big incentive for her to do. I'll make sure the whole team comes to make sure the job goes smoothly.

I look around the bar to see if Lucy is there, but I don't see her anywhere. "Hey, Macao! Have you seen Lucy?" I ask him.

"Pool," he informs me, looking kind of bored.

I nod to let him know I heard and hold up the job to Happy. "What do you think, buddy? Too soon to go out on a real job?"

Happy reads it over. "Yeah I think so. But she'd get mad if we didn't take it because of the reward."

"We'll ask her what she thinks," I tell him and run into the pool room. Lucy's on the diving board, Erza, Levy, Cana, and Laki are all watching her from a safe distance in the water.

"Hey, Luce!" I call up to her. Her eyes open and she loses her footing on the board for a second and comes dangerously close to slipping and hurting herself so she puts her weight forward so she topples into the water, smacking into the water on her back.

"Ouch." Happy cringes.

"Shit. Sorry, Lucy!" I call and go to the edge of the pool to crouch down. I watch her swim underwater to resurface in front of me.

"What was that for?" She snaps at me, clearly irritated that I ruined her dive.

"Just wanted to ask you on a job," I tell her with a grin. "Looks like a fun one. you up for it?"

"Depends. Fun usually means dangerous, stupid, or both with you," she tells me. "I don't know if I'm ready for anything big just yet. I've still got a lot of training to do."

"So should we just sell these gate keys when we get 'em?" I ask her, holding out the flyer for her to read.

She squeals in excitement when she's finished reading. "Not a lot of money, but three silver keys is worth it! All to keep some bandits from passing into Seven?"

"We leave tomorrow!" Erza booms from the top of the diving board. I look up at heer and shake my head.

"I found the job. I call the shots on this one!" I announce. "Anyway, where's the ice cube at? I haven't seen him around."

"He's out with a group who went out training. They're training in some different areas of Fiore, desert, volcano, mountain, snow, beach," Lucy tells me. "They left a few days ago."

"You didn't notice that Gray, Max, Elfman, Lisanna, Romeo, Freed, Laxus, Evergreen, Bickslow, Gajeel, and Pantherlily have all been gone?" Laki asks me, floating on her back in the water. "You really are dense."

"Thanks, Laki," I sigh. Why is it my job to keep track of where people are? Everyone comes in and out of this place all the time, it'd be crazy for me to remember where everyone is all the time.

"Yeah, Gray was excited to get away for a while just to train and focus on getting stronger," Lucy tells me.

"That bastard," I grumble. "i'm gonna go train twice as hard as he is! he thinks he's going to outdo me?!" I exclaim.

"You go do that. I'll see you later on, okay?" Lucy lifts herself up and pecks me on the cheek. I wipe at it, she's all wet, it's kind of gross.

But not, at the same time. Weird.

I smile down at her and spot the scar on her shoulder. It's from where I burned the wound to make it stop bleeding. Now it looks like theres a messy, blobby hand print shaped burn on her shoulder and it pisses me off to see it. Wendy told me she couldn't make the scar go away, and that Lucy didn't mind it, so I don't mention my dislike of it for her sake.

As I turn to leave Erza makes her dive. She hits the water with such force it sends a wave crashing around the room, completely soaking me and Happy. Something hits me in the face and I grab it, holding it up.

"What the -?"

"Natsu throw it back in the water!" Lucy snaps at me. I look that way and see Erza lost her swim suit top.

I roll my eyes and toss Erza's top in the water. Happy and I leave. When I get outside, I let flames errupt from my body for a second to dry my clothes.

"Let's go train, Happy!" I cheer, getting fired up. I take off running toward the forest where we've done most of our training since I was a kid. We set up plenty of me proof stuff I can use to train in the woods near my house.

As we approach the training area, a new scent fills the air around me. "Someone's there," I tell Happy under my breath. "You recognize that scent?"

He shakes his head. We press on to see who is in our territory, and find a girl sitting under one of the large trees. She's just reading.

Before approaching her, I take a good look at her. She looks like she's Lucy's age. She's got bright orange-yellow hair that reminds me of dandelions tied up in two braids. Since she's sitting down I can't tell how long it is, but it sure looks long to me. And her eyes are the same yellowy orange color. I can feel magic energy coming off her, but I can't tell what kind of magic she uses just by looking at her.

I start walking toward her. "Hey, who are you?" I ask her, stopping just in front of her. happy lowers himself so he's eye level with her.

She looks up and jumps at the sight of Happy so close to her. She schoots up against the tree, her book abandoned on the ground. "Ah!" She yelps, looking up at me.

"Who are you?" I ask her again. "I've never seen you around here before."

"Aye," happy agrees with me. "And you have a lot of magic power. Are you a mage?"

She glances at Happy for a second before looking back at me. "I'm sorry, am I not allowed to be here?!" She asks me. "I didn't know. I'm not from around here. Sorry, I'll leave."

I reach down and pick up her book. "No, it's not that. I just wanted to know who you are. You can go wherever you want. What's your name?" I ask her, trying a smile to ease her a little. She looks terrified of me. I don't understand why. I look down at her book. "Hey, I got a friend who likes stuff like this."

"Oh, your friend likes the stars?" the girl asks, still not giving me her name. "I've been studying the stars ever since I decided to be a celestial wizard," she says quietly, like she shouldn't be saying it. "My name is Aki Yoru, what's yours?"

"I'm Natsu Dragneel."

"Hey, you have a cheesy season name like I do," Aki laughs. "Summer and fall. Kind of funny, isn't it?"

"Uh, yeah I guess? So are you in Magnolia to check out Fair Tail? It's a great guild if you're looking to join one," I tell her.

Her eyes go wide in complete terror. "You're in a wizard's guild?!"

I look at her, confused and worried about that look she's giving me. "What's wrong with that?" I hold her book out for her to take and she does, her hands shaking. _What's with this girl?_

"My parents always told me that mages who belong to guilds are bad news," Aki says quietly. She looks perplexed, "but you don't seem to be trouble."

"Who're your parents? They've obviously never met a Fairy Tail Wizard,"

Aki shakees her head and looks up at the sky. "Oh, no! I'm so late!" She exclaims, grabbing her bag that's sitting on the ground. She runs past me in a flash toward the city. I almost couldn't see her movements she was so far. "Bye, Natsu Dragneel!" She calls over her shoulder. "And blue exceed!"

"My name is Happy!" Happy calls after her, though she doesn't answer him.

"Weird," I comment after she's gone. "That was really weird."

"Aye."

* * *

**Meet Aki, she's one of the original characters I own along with Oliver, Aki's family, and... this plot. I do NOT own Fairy Tail, obviously. I know I already said that but to be safe I'll say it again.**

**Whatever.**

**meep meep.**

**Hope you guys are enjoyiing this! Leave me some reviews! I've been loving the reviews I've gotten.**

**K I'll stop talking now.**


	23. Chapter 23

After a good three solid hours of training, I lay down on the ground to take a breather. "Good workout, huh?" I ask Happy. "Did you have to throw stuff at me while I was doin' push-ups?"

"Not really," Happy admits. "I could say I was trying to help you in some way, but I was just bored."

"I'll remember that, man," I tell him, closing my eyes to the sun. It's high in the sky, meaning it's time for some food and a nap. "Ready to go back home? I can make some grub for us and then we can go back to training."

"Just don't burn the house down again," Happy requests and we both get up and start walking back to our house.

When the house comes into view, I see that the door is open. "Looks like I forgot to close the door again," I tell Happy. Then I smell it. "No, not again!"

I run into the house and stop dead in my tracks when I see the state of it. Even the floor is sparkling. "Luce, it took me forever to get things back to normal after the last time," I tell the blonde who's sitting on the floor in front of me.

"There were rats! and toxic mold," she counters. "I don't know how you can live like that. The mold itself could kill a normal human being."

"You sayin' I'm not normal?" I ask, feigning hurt.

"Is that a trick question?," she giggles. "Oh, and I made a stew pot. It's boiling in the kitchen. There's some fish I bought in town for Happy."

"Natsu, I've thought it through and I've decided that Lucy should live here and bring me fish every day!" Happy proclaims, flying into the kitchen, his mouth watering from the prospect of getting fish.

I follow him in and find even all the dishes and stuff are clean. No burnt mystery substances anywhere. I didn't think Lucy would go through all this trouble to take care of me. I smile, finding myself falling in love with her all over again.

I grab the pot off the fire and eat up the flame so it won't burn itself out. I get two spoons from a drawer and bring the pot out to Lucy, who backs up a bit when I set it down on the floor in front of her.

I can see visible apprehension at the burning pot in front her so I move it closer to me to ease her anxiety a bit. Ever since I had to burn her wounds, she's been cautious around heat. She tries to hide it, but I can still tell.

We sit around on the floor like that for a while longer, not really talking about anything, but at the same time, talking about everything. She tells me that her training with Capricorn is going well, though he's not giving much thought to her recent injuries so sometimes he works her a little too hard, which she doesn't mind. I tell her about the girl I just saw.

"And she just seemed scared of something the whole time," I tell her. "Even when I mentioned Fairy Tail, she said her parents told her not to trust guild mages."

"Really?" Lucy asks, swirling her spoon in the now cooled off pot. "I hope she's not in any kind of trouble. Where'd she run off to?"

"She ran into Magnolia, but she could be long gone by now."

"Oh, lucy! She said she was a celestial mage too! She was reading a book about stars," Happy chimes in, chewing on a fish bone.

This peaks Lucy's interest. "She's a Celestial Wizard? I wonder who she has contracted…"

"I didn't see any keys, or I'd tell you if they were silver or gold," I tell her.

"Well hopefully she'll be okay," Lucy says, ending the conversation. She stands up and stretches, "I need to go meet Capricorn for some end of the day meditation. I'll see you tomorrow morning. We're meeting in the guild hall," she tells me before bending over to drop a kiss on my forehead. "Love you," she says and leaves me alone with Happy.

He doesn't say anything. For the last couple weeks he's been making little comments and snickering and joking about how Lucy and I are, but it looks like he's getting bored with that, thankfully.

I jump up and pick up the pot off the floor with the two spoons. I take them into the kitchen and clean it out. Lucy went through the trouble to clean up, I'll try to keep things clean for a while for her.

When I'm done cleaning things up, I shower and go into my room to plan out tomorrow's job and to go to bed. I vow to make sure nobody gets hurt like Lucy did on the last job. I don't sleep well since I can't stop going over the job dwelling on what might happen during it. When I finally do fall asleep, nightmares ensue.

I wake up late in the morning, which I never do. I kept replaying the Atropine mess in my dreams and didn't sleep very good.

Happy watches me run around the house getting ready. "What's with you? You're never late like this."

"I'm ready now," I tell him, running out the door. I hear him shut it before following me to the guild hall. I spot Erza, Wendy, Carla, and Lucy waiting for me in front of the building.

"You're late," Erza chides me when I reach them.

"Sorry," I apologize, catching my breath.

"You look like you didn't sleep well," Lucy comments.

"Didn't eat breakfast, either," I tell her.

"We'd stop and eat, but the train is going to leave soon and we need to get going so we make it in time," she tells me. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a notebook and a matchbook. She strikes a match and sets a few pieces of paper on fire and hands them over.

"Thanks!" I smile and eat the flames, paper and all, and feel a lot better. "What would I do without you?"

"Live in a toxic waste dump and starve?" she guesses.

"Probably," I agree. We both laugh and Wendy and Erza both exchange a pleased look. I ignore it.

We head off to Magnolia Station and I grit my teeth, getting on the train and preparing for the worst. Wendy tries casting Troia on me but it doesn't work, which makes her feel bad.

"Oh, come here," Lucy tells me, patting the seat next to her. She pulls me down so my head is on her lap and she looks down at me. "Now go to sleeep before we start moving, and you should be fine. Now's your chance to make up for whatever sleep you didn't get last night."

I do as she says and close my eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.

I look down at Natsu and find myself smiling. He's cute when he's sleeping. He looks almost innocent, like he couldn't destroy things as easily as he does.

"Lucy," Erza calls across the compartment. I look up to see her staring at my shoulder.

I look down at it, seeing the hand print burn mark Natsu gave me. I'm wearing a sleeveless top; I don't care if people see the scar, it doesn't bother me like people think it should.

"Yeah, Erza?" I ask her. "What's up?"

"Forgive me for my curiosity, but aren't you going to keep that scar covered up? Doesn't it bother you?" She seems genuinely concerned. "I know that sounds rude."

I shrug. "No, I actually like the scar. It proves what I've been through and…" I look back down at Natsu, hoping he can't hear us while he's asleep. "I like it because the scar is from him. I know that sounds twisted and weird, but now it feels like he's left a mark on me and I'm really his. I know he probbly doesn't agree - I bet he hates it. Anyway, it's kind of hard to really put into words. The way I said it makes me sound crazy, huh?" I laugh, feeling awkward for explaining that to Erza and Wendy.

"Lucy, you really like that scar?" Happy asks me from above. I look up, startled. I'd forgotten he and Carla were sitting in the overhead compartment.

"I do," I tell him earnestly.

Natsu flinches in my arms and I look down, surprised and worried that he's awake.

He's giving me a weird look, confused. Then all at once he turns green and flips himself onto his hands and knees and scrambles over me to the window to puke.

"Well that moment was ruined pretty quickly," Happy scoffs. "Nice going, Natsu."


	24. Chapter 24

When the train finally, _finally_, arrives in Clover, Lucy grabs onto my wrist so i can't jump out the window.

"Wait until it stops," she instructs me. "The people who work here don't like it when you jump off like that."

"So what?" I ask her.

When the train stops I smirk at her and grab her so we both jump out of the window. She laughs out loud while Carla scolds us for acting foolish in public.

Erza tosses our luggage out the window and Happy comes out to join us. Wendy, Erza, and Carla choose to go the long way through the door.

"We need to go to Blue Pegasus," I tell everyone when we're all standing together on the platform. "A car is going to take us to the village the client's in from there. We'll check into a hotel or something for the night and see the client tomorrow. Then after we talk to the client we'll go to the border."

"That works for me," Lucy says cheerfully.

"Yeah! We can see everyone there; it's been a while," Wendy chimes in.

"Fine, then," says Erza, looking resigned. "Blue Pegasus isn't too far. We can walk or take a car. Natsu? Since you're the leader on this job, you choose."

Music to my ears. The first thought in my head is to just walk, since vehicles are the devil. But if we walk, it might take us too long and we could miss our ride. I sigh, "I'll go find us a cab."

"That's a mature decision," Erza praises.

"Yeah, yeah," I groan, looking around.

When I finally find us a car, we head over to Blue Pegasus. It's not in Clover Town itself, but it's not too far off. Master Bob has a place in Clover, but usually the guild doesn't use it unless something big is going on.

Blue Pegasus is noisy as ever. When we show up, Hibiki, Ren, and Ichiya immediately start their stupid fawning over Erza, Lucy, and Wendy. Happy, Carla, and I go to sit down at the bar with Master Bob. I watch Lucy, trying not to laugh at how stupid those guys are being.

"Where's Eve?" Wendy asks them, squirming to the edge of the couch they forced her to sit on.

"Out on a job with Jenny," Ichiya responds, sniffing Erza's hair, making her flinch and scowl at him. I give him five seconds before she punches him.

"Ren, aren't you and Sherry engaged?" Lucy asks him frantically, glaring at me for enjoying this so much.

"Yeah, we might be," he responds coyly.

Erza snaps and drop kicks Ichiya and round house kicks Hibiki and Ren. She pulls Wendy and Lucy off the couch and drags them over to me.

"You're despicable," Lucy says, elbowing me halfheartedly.

"What? It's fun watchin' them act like idiots. What should I kick their asses for hitting on you?" I inquire. "Should I feel threatened?"

She rolls her eyes and then shakes her head, no. "You have a point. I'm just surprised you aren't picking fights over every little thing like you used to."

"Didn't you hear? Erza thinks I'm mature now," I smirk at her. "Can't disappoint Erza right in front of her, now, can I?"

"It'd be suicide," Happy agrees.

Lucy laughs at that.

The door to the guild hall bursts open then and we all look to see what the ruckus is. Eve limps in with Jenny on his heels. When they're inside they both collapse on the floor.

Wendy's the first one to their side. The rest of us follow suit.

"What happened" Hibiki demands.

"We took care of most of the monsters that were in that village," Jenny starts.

"The last few were tricky. We barely made it out of that alive," Eve finishes.

"You look as though you were fighting an army of scissors," I remark. They're both torn to ribbons. It's amazing they haven't bled out yet.

"You look like you were attacked by a horde of scissors," I remark, helping Wendy by holding Jenny's shoulders down so she'll stop flinching.

"Something like that," Eve responds.

"Stop talking," Wendy instructs him. "Both of you, don't talk and don't move. Everyone else, please, none of you talk either. I need to concentrate."

"Don't overwork yourself!" Carla argues. Erza nudges her disapprovingly and Carla keeps her mouth shut after that.

Wendy does her thing to stop all the bleeding, and then she sends for someone to get her some supplies so she can bandage Eve and Jenny up. Ren and Hibiki take them both to the infirmary and Wendy follows them in to keep an eye on the two.

"Hey, the car is here," Lucy announces then. I turn to the window and see it pulling in front of the guild hall.

"Alright," Erza says and then catches herself. She looks at me, clearly not used to me being in charge. "What do you want Wendy to do?"

"She should stay and make sure Eve and Jenny heal up. These guys might be weird but they're still good guys. I don't want 'em getting hurt worse if she's not here," I tell her.

"I'll go tell her that she and Carla will stay here, while we take on the job," Lucy offers.

"We'll be able to take care of it without her," Erza agrees.

"Aye," Happy chimes in.

"Are you sure about this?" Master Bob asks me, grimacing. "Do you know what kind of threat you're facing?"

I shake my head. "It's just some bandits. The request flyer didn't say anything about them being wizards, so we'll be fine." I assure him. "I picked a smaller job to get us back into things anyway," I add.

Lucy comes back and we go out to the car. We leave then, with Master Bob waving us off. The ride to the village isn't very long, but it's bumpy. "Vehicles are the devil," I proclaim aloud.

"You say something like that every time we're on a vehicle," Happy points out to me.

"Because nobody believes me when I say it," I retort.

"Only you get motion sickness," he argues. "The rest of us are fine!"

"Because your tummies don't hate you."

"Guess you're just unlucky," Happy tells me.

I respond by puking out the window.

When we arrive in the village Lucy sits with me while Erza and Happy go to find a hotel for us to stay in. They come back in two minutes, Erza beaming.

"I broke my record," she explains.

"What record?" Lucy asks her.

"From Hargeon," she reminds her.

"Oh," Lucy laughs. "You don't have to keep trying to outdo yourself."

"But I must! How else will I get better?" Erza challanges.

Erza leads us to the hotel, which is just a small dumpy place. It's the only hotel in the village. It's pretty late by now so We all take turns in the bathroom we share and get ready for bed. Erza falls asleep first, followed by Happy. I stay up and wait for Lucy to finish in the bathroom and we sit up and talk.

"So what's your plan for tomorrow?" she asks me. "I know we don't know the details yet, but you must have thought of something."

I nod, "yeah. We're supposed to secure the border and keep bandits from getting over to Seven, right? We'll all just take a section of the border and split up. When one of us spots 'em, we'll set off a signal so the others can help that person. What'd'ya think?"

She thinks it over and nods, "it sounds like as good a plan as any. We can work out details tomorrow after we meet with the client."

"I was thinking, if you can do it, you summon one or two of your spirits to make up for losing Wendy?" I ask her.

"Yeah, I can do that! Capricorn has been a big help in training." She beams, proud of her own accomplishments and strength.

I smile at her enthusiasm, hoping nothing bad will happen to take that away from her, and reach over to give her a kiss before getting up to go to bed. "Goodnight," I tell her.

"Hey," she stops me. "You're worried about tomorrow, aren't you?"

"You can tell?" I ask her after a second.

"Yeah. I can tell when you're nervous about something because you're not as loud as you'd normally be," she says seriously.

I snort at the comment. "Loud? Me?"

"Don't worry about tomorrow," Lucy tells me. "We're gonna rock this job, I know it! I'll do whatever it takes for us to succeed."


	25. Chapter 25

In the morning Erza wakes everyone up at the crack of dawn. "Even though the meeting is at noon?" Lucy groans, burying her head in her pillow.

"I thought we might train before the meeting to warm up for the job," Erza suggests.

Lucy rolls out of bed and stretches. "Sure thing. Capricorn has been giving me some great tips for training. I shouldn't even need to call him out to help me."

"I'm up for some training!" I declare, jumping out of my bed.

"Then we'll meet downstairs for breakfast in twenty minutes," Erza tells us. She's already changed into her armor and everything, so she leaves the room to go downstairs.

"She's probably hitting up the free breakfast sweets," I tell Lucy and Happy, Lucy yawns and falls back onto her bed, not ready to get up just yet. Happy hasn't even bothered making an effort to get up. I sigh, going to get a change of clothes. "Guess I'll use the bathroom first."

When I walk downstairs, I see my prediction was right; Erza has a plate of muffins, a plate of pancakes with whip cream, syrup, and fruit, and a plate of chocolate waffles. I load two plates up with eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, toast, and some fruit and join her at the table.

Lucy comes down with Happy five minutes later, meeting Erza's deadline exactly. We sit around eating, mostly waiting for Erza to finish her second helping of pancakes, before going to find a spot to train outside.

"So what are we doing?" Lucy asks us when we find a spot. A mostly open field, perfect for sparring and general exercise.

"I have an idea," I start with a wicked grin on my face. "Hey, Erza, Lucy says she's strong enough now to take you on in a fight."

Lucy gives me a surprised, dirty look before looking to Erza, who's already requipped into her flight armor. She grabs her keys with one hand and her whip with the other, summoning Aries and Loke. "Hey! We're just training!" Lucy assures them upon their arrival. She activates her whip and I sit back and watch her and Erza go at it.

Four spirits. First she summoned Aries and Scorpio, who lasted about five minutes before Erza took them out. She summoned Loke, who lasted ten minutes longer. Finally, after migrating a bit a coming across a stream, Lucy summoned Aquarius.

"You summoned me for your stupid training?!" Aquarius snarls, ignoring Erza completely and butting heads with Lucy.

"I'm sorry if I thought maybe we could work on our fighting strategy and team dynamic a bit," Lucy retorts, giving Aquarius an equally dirty look. Shereally is getting braver. Aquarius even scares me sometimes.

"I'll be going now. I have a date with Scorpio later and I need to get ready. Guess you wouldn't know anything about that since you can't get a boyfriend," Aquarius says with a smirk.

Erza chuckles behind her and I blush. "What are you laughing at?" Aquarius demands of Erza.

"Guess you haven't heard," Erza starts calmly, "Lucy is involved now. She would indeed know about relationships now."

"What?" Aquarius says blankly, utterly confused.

"What, Loke didn't tell you?" I ask Aquarius, approaching Lucy, putting my arm around her.

"Wow," Aquarius sputters, wide eyed. She smirks, looking at Lucy. "Good for you, blondie. Still, don't call on me for stupid training. When you need me to kick ass, I will if I feel like it. No amount of team dynamic training will change that fact.. Bye!" She waves, vanishing in a burst of light.

"Thanks Aquarius," Lucy calls after the water bearer. She looks to Erza. "I was hoping she'd be my ace in the hole, but now I got nothing. I don't want to burn through all of my energy before the job even starts."

"Then we'll call it a draw," Erza declares. She holds out her hand and Lucy shakes it. "Natsu?" Erza locks eyes with me. "Your turn." She requips into her fire empress armor.

Excitement bursts inside of me and I crack my knuckles, "I was hopin' you'd say that! I'm all fired up!"

I wait for Lucy to get a safe distance away before I start sparring with Erza. I can hear Happy giving his commentary as he watches from a tree that Lucy's sitting under. I drown him out, trying to focus all my attention on Erza. Thanks to her armor I don't need to worry about holding anything back. Finally, I switch to Lightning flame dragon mode and take her down with a lightning flame dragon roar. On accident, I take out all the trees behind her as well.

"Jeez, didn't mean to do that!" I laugh guiltily. "Didn't mean to take out half the forest."

"I lose," Erza admits, changing out of her armor and into her regular clothes. "You've gotten very strong, Natsu."

"We should get going if we're going to meet that client at noon," Lucy suggests.

"Let's go then," Erza says and the four of us leave the forest to go back into the village.


	26. Chapter 26

The client's home is one of the larger homes in the village and the client himself looks to be one of the larger villagers, himself. I can't help but compare him to a penguin, the way he waddles around.

"The bandits, first of all, are transporting magic enhanced weapons to Seven," the client tells us when we arrive at his place. "The country has been plagued by warfare for years. It seems several powerful families are battling over the right to rule the country. Don't get involved with anyone there. If you're lucky, you'll take care of this on our side of the border."

"Lucky is my middle name," Lucy assures him, though I don't think she even has a middle name. I know she used to be called Lucky Lucy. Maybe that's what she meant? "So do you have a description of the bandits we're looking for? How they're travelling, how big the group is?"

"The group as a whole is a mystery. As far as we know none of them are wizards. The ratio of men and women is pretty even, and there seems to be about twenty members of the group in all. Their mode of transportation seems to change often, according to our intelligence.

"This shipment of weapons seems to be larger than most shipments we've seen before. I have my suspicions that the group might have enlisted the assistance of dark wizards."

"So we're looking for a group of twenty, plus some wizards, crossing the border to Seven with a shipment of weapons, using an unknown transportation method," Erza says drily.

"That's correct," the client confirms with a disgruntled shake of his head. "I'm sorry I can't give you more solid information to go by."

"We've handled worse situations with minimal information before," Lucy says, trying to sound encouraging.

"So what's our game plan? split up at the border and set off a signal if one of us spots anything suspicious?" I ask them.

"That would work," Happy offers. "Wait, do we have the support of an army? This sounds like something the capital should help us with."

"I agree with Happy," Lucy says, raising her hand. "This is a political issue. If Fiore looks like it's backing a particular side in this feud in Seven, then we could make enemies of the opposing houses."

The client shakes his head. "The capital is trusting that Fairy Tail can handle this quietly without getting the army involved."

"That's a first. Since when does anyone in authority trust us?" I ask my friends.

"It's certainly a rarity," Erza agrees. "Alright. We can handle this. Do you know what time the bandits are set to cross the border?" she asks the client.

"My intelligence has informed me that they plan to cross the border tonight."

"Then let's get going!" I jump up, ready to get moving now. "I'm all fired up! Let's kick some bandit butt!"

"You're certainly excited to ride in a vehicle. I never thought I'd see the day," Lucy tells me, exstinguishing my fire.

"More vehicles?" I ask, mortified at the idea. "I thought we were done with that!"

"We're taking a car to the border. It'll drop each of us off at an equal distance apart so we can cover the most ground," Erza tells me. "Remember? It was your idea? Or have you forgot that you're the leader for this job?"

"Oh, yeah," i recall and sigh. "Yay, more vehicles," I say sarcastically. I look at a map of Fiore that's hanging on the wall. I try picturing how far apart each of us will be. If it's just four of us, we won't be covering as much ground as we would if the whole group was here. "Guess it's the best plan we have," I admit when I'm tired of trying to figure it out.

"If you can successfully detain these bandits and stop the weapons from passing into Seven, the reward is yours. two hundred thousand jewel and three silver gate keys."

"I love the sound of three gate keys," Lucy gushes, excited.

"So sorry we can't offer more payment. Like I said before we're trying to keep this under wraps," the client tells us.

"Don't worry about it, man," I assure him. "We'll take care of this for you. Payment isn't an issue."

The four of us head out to the car that's picking us up. The ride isn't as bad as the last few have been, since we don't have far to travel. The car drops me off to take care of the first part of the border. Lucy's going to the second part, Happy is going to the third part, and Erza is going to the fourth. We all have signal flares to shoot up for emergencies.

For most of the afternoon I just sit around, bored out of my mind. I occupy some of my time with push ups and crunches, choosing to use the down time for exercising, which will keep me fired up for when the bandits show up.

"I just hope Erza and the others don't get all the fun," I tell myself.

"Whoa, it's you!" someone calls from the forest. I look in that direction and spot Aki, the girl from the forest by my house, coming toward me. She looks different, like she has a purpose or something.

"Oh, hi," I greet her, looking around her to make sure we're safe to talk. "What are you doing here? I just saw you yesterday in Magnolia."

She nods. "Yeah right after I realized I was late, I hopped a train here and met up with my friends. I'm sorry I freaked out on you when you mentioned Fairy Tail. It's just that my parents have always told me guilds and guild mages are bad."

"Couldn't be further from the truth," I tell her earnestly. "Guilds are great for getting people together, and you can work with people to do jobs. It's a lot more than that, but on a basic level, guilds are pretty great and I think you should decide for yourself instead of listenin' to your family. Who's your family?"

She looks surprised at this and she smiles, "I mean, I have friends and we do jobs together like a group from a guild might," she tells me. "My parents are venom and fire wizards, they taught me magic and told me not to trust guilds."

"That's a weird thing to tell your kid." I scratch my head, confused. "Why would someone tell you not to trust guilds? Yeah the unofficial dark guilds are a pain, but guilds like Fairy Tail and Blue Pegasus are great for wizards. Especially if you're just starting out. You said the other day you're a new Celestial Wizard, right?"

She nods. "I am! I use fire and venom magic because of my parents, but I always thought Celestial Magic was amazing so I'm training to become a celestial mage! I have a few silver keys, but nothing that powerful yet."

Something around her neck flashes and Aki jumps, rubbing at her neck. She turns around and i spot something come out of the shadows behind her. I grab her and pull her behind me, protecting her from the obvious threat. "Aki, you should leave. This guy looks like bad news," I warn her.

"Natsu," she mumbles behind me. "That's one of the people I was meeting here, Adam. Adam, meet Natsu. He's got a cheesy name too."

* * *

**So uh, I kind of took some liberties with giving Seven a story, enough to use it in my plot. If it sound lame, whatever. It doesn't matter in the slightest.**


	27. Chapter 27

I turn to look at her for a second and then my body goes rigid. I try moving it but it won't do what I want it to. I look down to see my shadow is extending away from my body. I follow the shadow to find it connected with the man behind me. I'm stuck looking ahead at Aki, who looks dazed with blank determination in her eyes.

"Is that right, Aki? He's named after the summer, so I guess he does. Aki, can you do me a favor and kill him for me?"

"Fire can't kill me," I tell him, gritting my teeth.

"Natsu, I told you my parents taught me fire and poison," Aki reminds me calmly, her voice almost… monotonous - quiet and lifeless.

I watch her carefully, finding the look in her eyes to be strange. My eyes lock onto the thing around her neck. "What's that on your neck?"

"Don't worry about it," Adam tells me. "Just something to make her more open to suggestion and submissive."

I process that, completely confused. I don't get it. "Open to suggestion?" I ask him, focusing energy in my feet.

"She's always been a clumsy little fool, so I'm helping her out by giving her suggestions to ease her way through life," Adam tells me.

"Is that right?" I ask him, eyes fixed on Aki. Her flames are turning a purple, which I'm sure means she's lacing the fire with poison. My feet start burning with the intensity of the magic power I poured into them.

All at once Aki lunges forward, meaning to stab me in the chest with her poison fire. I jump up, breaking Adam's hold on me. I reach into my pocket and send up the signal flare to alert the others.

"Your friends are occupied," Adam tells me. "You see, the bandit leader figured someone would send for reinforcements to block tonight's shipment to Seven so we took some precautions along the border. Each of your friends is fighting their own battles. Sorry, but we get you all to ourselves."

"Then I get to take you down alone? I'm all fired up now!" I roar, launching myself at him, careful to watch his movements and that shadow of his. I need to hurry up so I can make sure Lucy and the others are okay.

Adam smirks at me and I sense her just in time. Aki comes up behind me and I shoot fire through my hand to push myself out of the way of her attack. She drives her hand into the ground, creating a crater that separates her and Adam from me. She puts herself between Adam and I and holds up a silver gate key. "Open Gate of the Chisel!"

A round spherical object appears next to Aki and I look at it for a second, "what is that thing?" I ask.

"Caelum, the chisel. It's a weapon spirit," Aki explains. She turns to her spirit. "Caelum, help me beat him! transform into your sword form!"

The sphere starts to change then, turning into a heavy duty sword. Aki grabs the hilt and comes at me with it. She jumps up over me and drops the sword down to strike. I grab the sword between my hands and hold it there, heatiny my hands up to break through it. I take a deep breath and exhale, breathing a stream of fire at Aki to make her drop Caelum. She does and I swing Caelum into the ground to send it back to the spirit world.

"Sorry about that," i say, watching it fade out of this world.

"Why are you apologizing? Aki asks me. "They don't die or anything."

"Lucy's always telling me that the spirits feel pain just like we do," I tell her roughly, getting angry at how this girl is acting. She seemed so cool before. What happened?

I pause to get a sense of the battle field. Adam is off to the side, watching Aki and I and probably planning to step in soon. Aki is standing on the defensive, steadying her breath. At the same time, we both charge each other, flaming hands and speed make the fight pretty even. She's a good combattant - I wasn't expecting that. Adam does step in eventually, and I have trouble fighting them while avoiding Adam's shadow and Aki's poison. After a while, I decide I can't go easy on Aki just because I don't think she's a bad person. I have to stop these two to complete the job.

At a distance, I spot bandits sneaking past the border with what looks like a few large boxes. I launch myself up and over Aki and Adam, charging in the direction of the bandits, picking up speed to avoid getting caught by Aki or Adam. I can't let these guys pass or we'll fail the mission.

When I'm within my range I send a fire dragon's dazzling flame attack at the bandits, taking them all down in one shot. I look back just in time to see Adam take a swing at me. I grab his fist, blocking his assault. He smirks at me.

"I didn't think you'd be so easily distracted," he tells me. "Didn't you ever learn? Don't let your guard down."

He pulls away from me, his shadow and mine linked again. I land as he does, glaring at him is the only thing I can manage while he has his shadow linked to mine.

* * *

Yes, yes Adam's power is the same thing as Shikamaru's jutsu in Naruto. I've always loved shadow based power and I wanted to have a character with shadow magic in this story.


	28. Chapter 28

**Shortest chapter, I think, of the whole fic. Also kind of... well, you can tell me what you think of it.**

**Enjoy! :D**

* * *

The first thing I do is start rebuilding energy in my body so I can break free of Adam's shadow link between us.

Aki approaches us. "Guess it's a good thing I have two Caelum spirits. Adam, hold him right there." She holds up a second key, "Open Gate of the Chsel! Caelum!" She calls, a second sphere appears next to her. The one is more of a gold color, where the last one was silver. "Caelum, please transform into your cannon form," she requests. "Please hurry before he manages he to break free of my brother's shadow spell!"

Her weapon spirit changes forms, this time it takes the shape of a cannon. Aki's hand flares up with purple flames. "Together, Caelum! Adam wants him dead!" Aki says, her eyes' emptiness contrasts the enthusiasm in her voice. I grit my teeth, trying to think of an out.

"Don't you dare!" Lucy snarls from behind me, running around me and tackling Aki. Cancer and Sagittarius come in behind her to take Caelum out, but it just blasts through both of them with one shot and they both vanish.

I watch Lucy fight Aki, step by step. She does pretty well for herself, using that whip of heers until Aki manages to outdo her. I can tell Aki has had a lot more combat training than Lucy has. She manages to knock Lucy down and set her sights back on me. I keep on building the energy I need to break Adam's hold on me, now so that I can protect Lucy from them.

"I need to finish this!" Aki declares, charging me with her hand drawn back, blazing purple flames at the ready.

"No, Natsu!" Lucy calls, jumping up to stop Aki from hitt me. Adam stands at a safe distance, watching with a gleeful expression on his face as Lucy charges in front of Aki to block her attack on me.

"Lucy!" I cry, my eyes widening. It happens in slow motion. Just like that Aki's hand pierces through Lucy's body like a spear through a paper target. Her flames rip through my chest, straight through my heart. All of the energy I'd been building up shaters and fizzes out upon impact.

And then it's over.


	29. Chapter 29

After I took down my opponents, I worked my way down the border to take out any lingering enemies, aiding Happy in his attempt to keep his region clear. When the two of us head down to help Lucy with hers, we find a group of bandits already tied up unconscious, crates scattered around them.

"Wow, Lucy kicked butt, didn't she?" Happy asks, poking at an unconscious and bruised bandit to make sure he was really unconscious.

"She must have seen the signal flare Natsu set off and did whatever she could to finish up her work so she could help him," I guess, looking at the crates lying around. She should have at least gathered the cargo up. "Help me put these crates on the cart, Happy."

After Happy and I load the cargo onto my cart, securing them with the other crates we'd procured, we continue down the border to Natsu's region. I suspect he and Lucy are just finishing up now and we can take the goods back to the village tonight and head right home when we're done.

Happy, who was flying up high, saw it first. "No!" he roars, "No!" He accelerates, flying fast toward the end of the border.

I look up to see what is upsetting him and I see it: Lucy's standing, guarding Natsu, and a girl is tearing her hand out of Lucy and Natsu's chests, her hand flaming purple. In slow motion, both Lucy and Natsu fall backward, blood spewing from their chests. I can see the hit lethal.

A man starts laughing wickedly, he's standing near them, his shadow connected with Natsu's. His shadow retracts away from Natsu and the man stands over Natsu and Lucy's still bodies. "Well done, Aki."

"I'm glad to have pleased you," the girl responds coldly. Her eyes are emotionless. She looks empty. _How dare she?_

_HOW DARE SHE!?_

"No!" I roar, sprinting toward the girl, a sword materializing in my hand.

She sees me coming and dodges my attack. I turn on the man, who'd probably been the real reason Natsu and Lucy were stabbed, and jab my sword through his throat, killing him on the spot.

I hear the girl behind me yelp in surprise at something, but when I turn to kill her, she's already gone.

I kick the crumpled body of the enemy away from Natsu and Lucy and look down at my feet. my boots are covered in the mixture of their blood. "Oh, god," I gag, feeling like I'm going to hurl. I drop down to my knees and grab onto Lucy, pressing my hands to her chest to stop the blood. "no, no, no!"

Happy's doing the same to Natsu, though unlike me his eyes are dry. He looks more furious than anything.

"No, you wake up! Now, damn it, wake up! Erza, go get Wendy! Now! Get Wendy!" Happy screams desperately. "We need to save my best friend! And we need to save Lucy! They were both just starting to be really happy! Go get Wendy!" he glares at Natsu's lifeless body and then up at me.

I can hear him, I know I should be running for Wendy, but I can't move. All I can do now is stare in utter disbelief at two of my dearest friends. "They're dead," I whisper. "They're both dead."

The words leave a despicably bitter taste in my mouth. I look down at Lucy's unmoving form. Her eyes are frozen open in shock and determination to protect Natsu. I look over at him and grimace. She tried so hard to protect him, and for what? She tried to save Natsu and got herself killed with him. She didn't do anything but cause more pain for her family at Fairy Tail.

Happy gets up then, his eyes finally flooded with tears. They fly behind him as he rockets away from the scene. I watch him go in silence, gripping onto Lucy's chilled body. I look at Natsu and reach out to hold him too. I snatch my hand away when I feel the most unnatural cold I've ever felt.

Natsu's always been warm. I cannot recall a time where he ever said anything along the lines of "I'm cold," before. Even on the summit of mount Hakobe, wearing an open waist coat and open toed sandals, he always seemed comfortable. Natsu never got cold. Not unless Gray encased him in ice. Even then, Natsu's warmth could burn through that ice. But here he is now, frozen to the touch. I can feel the warmth escaping his body into the air around him.

I sit there, frozen in utter despair, sitting in Natsu and Lucy's blood and sobbing uncontrollably. I don't know how long I do this for. Minutes? Hours? I've no clue. A hand on my shoulder snaps me back to consciousness and I look up to see Ichiya standing behind me, his face grim.

All at once, Wendy touches down from Christina and stumbles over to Natsu and Lucy. She mutters to herself, determined. "I can save them." She mutters this over and over to herself, eventually switching to "I will save them! I must save them!" as she becomes more and more desperate. "Please let me be able to save them," she pleads, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Ichiya squeezes my shoulder and I look back up at him to see Hibiki, Ren, and Master Bob are standing with him now, heads bowed. Carla is hovering above us, crying softly.

I take a shaky breath in and reach out for Wendy. "Wendy, it's too late," I tell her, my voice cracking. "They died before I could reach them."

"I can't save them," Wendy sobs into my chest. "Why did this happen?! Why?!" She shrieks wildly.

"I wasn't fast enough," I respond. "I'm so sorry I wasn't fast enough."

"No! Happy screams, touching down in the middle of the pooling blood, splattering it on my face and the back of Wendy's head. Wendy turns back to look at him, her eyes red and puffy. "Don't you dare give up! There has to be something you can do! He can't die! Lucy can't either! Not like this! You can't let them! I won't accept it!" Happy sobs.

Carla floats down to the ground in front of Happy and steps toward him, putting her arms around him to comfort him. "Happy, I'm so sorry," she says, her voice strained, choked.

Happy pushes her away from him and gives everyone an almost murderous look before flying away from the scene. I can tell this time he's not going to come back.

Ichiya pulls me to my feet and tows me toward Christina. Master Bob picks up Wendy and brings her, pulling the cart of cargo behind him. Hibiki and Ren pick up Natsu and Lucy and bring them in. All I can think about is how I'm going to tell Fairy Tail what's happened.

* * *

**Man this is an emotional reread. I remember crying when I was writing this, but it's worse when I'm reading it.**

**I know it feels like nothing could ever kill Natsu or Lucy, so this death seems kind of lame. i figured this works just as well as some elaborate death.**

**Whatever. I just hope it didn't suck horribly.**

**I keep saying that, don't I?**

**I just really want you guys to enjoy reading it!**

**Let me know what you think and review it please!**


	30. Chapter 30

"It's raining," states Nab, looking up at the sky wearily.

"Even the Heavens weeps," First Master Mavis remarks sadly, wiping her eyes.

The guild stands around Cardia Cathedral, in front of two tomb stones. All is silent until Master Makarov steps forward, staring down at the two graves in utter disbelief and fierce loathing. "This is a day I never imagined would come," he starts. "I never even bothered to pray against such a thing happening; I never thought it would. Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia," he pauses, the word sticking in his throat. "were both killed in action."

Muffled choking sounds break the silence that follows. Makarov turns to face his guild. "I never wanted to see the day where one of my beloved children passed before I did, but to see two of them, and both so young... it breaks my very being to think of it. It would be impossible for me to fully express what I feel for these two very special wizards.

"Lucy Heartfilia wasn't with us for long," Makarov begins, "but Fairy Tail would be a very different place if she'd never walked through our doors. That girl had a heart of pure gold - she could never turn her back to someone in need, even if that person showed her nothing but cruelty, she would never hesitate to offer a helping hand to that person. She was a feisty one, never wanted to miss out on an oppertunity to better herself. I could say more, but I know you, my children, could express those same things far more eloquently than I ever could." Makarov steps back, knowing that if he spoke a word more, he'd break down, and that's not something he wanted his guild children and the first master to see.

Erza steps forward, laying a bouquet of yellow orchids on Lucy's grave. She lets her hand rest on the head stone, watching it for a moment before blinking back tears that threaten to fall and turning to face the guild. "Lucy Heartfilia was a living embodiment of virtue and grace. She was kind to all, yet fierce when she needed to be. She was one of the strongest women I had the pleasure of calling my friend and partner. I chose to send her off with a bouquet of yellow orchids. THe flower, to me, represents strength, gentility, and love. The color yellow represents my love for her as a friend and as a sister. Lucy Heartfilia, may your spirit and soul rest in piece."

Erza looks back to Lucy's grave and suddenly clutches the headstone in her hand. "I can't believe you're really gone," she chokes out, letting the stream of tears fall. She looks over at Natsu's grave, feeling her body quivering and her spirit sinking lower than she thought it ever would again. "You're both gone. I thought we were supposed to live for each other?" she asks them, falling to her knees. "Not die!"

A hand rest her shoulder and looks to see Master Makarov looking down at her, tears streaming down his face. "Thank you, Erza. Thank you for your words. Lucy will love the flowers."

Erza looks back at the two graves and closes her eyes, regaining her composure. She stands back up and walks back toward her friends. Mirajane reaches out to embrace Erza and they stay like that until Erza's sure she has it together. She turns around to watch Levy, Cana, Elfman, and finally, Mirajane say some words for Lucy. Everyone lines up to offer flowers and personal goodbyes to Lucy.

Finally, Makarov takes center stage again, knowing he's not going to be able to hold his composure for this one. He shakes his head, letting the tears flow openly. He doesn't care if he looks strong anymore.

"Natsu Dragneel," he starts, his voice strained. "Was an exceptional human being and wizard. He lived every day and did everything with all of his strength and passion. The boy lived a harrd life, losing everything at such a young age, finding a home and teacher in Igneel only to lose him as well," Makarov shakes his head, taking a shaky breath. "And when I found him wandering the forest I knew he'd be a handful, I knew he'd probably cause trouble one way or another, but I could also see the fantastic adult he would one day become." Master looks back at Natsu's grave and wipes at his eyes.

Erza steps forward again, resting yellow gladioluses on Natsu's grave. she turns to face the guild and realizes if she opens her mouth now, she really will lose her composure. She looks back at Natsu's grave and clears her throat, fighting through the tears. "The Gladiolus flower signifies strength of character and moral integrity. Yellow is to sybolize the bond I shared with him as friends, and as comrades."

Erza steps back over to the group before she has the chance to break down again. Everyone stands for a long moment, unwilling and not brave enough to speak about Natsu. To most, it's an impossibility that he's gone.

Finally though, Gray steps forward, surprising some, bringing most to tears. Everyone knows how close the two were, even if neither of them would admit it.

"Natsu was an idiot," Gray starts drily. "He was wreckless, put us in danger more times than I can count, and he was pathetic on any mode of transportation. Yeah we're here to celebrate and send him off, but I don't want any of you to forget how stupid that bastard was."

"Gray," Lisanna says sharply, appalled at Gray's words. Mirajane takes her sister's shoulder, shaking her head to tell her to stay quiet.

"He was an idiot," Gray continues," but... he was a hell of a fighter, never gave up even if every sign was telling him he should. He was unbelieveably stubborn when it came to protecting his friends, and he would lose his shit if he heard of or saw someone being mistreated by someone they called a friend. He was too simple to get why people would betray a comrade. He just didn't get why people sometimes do stuff like that." Gray looks back at Natsu's grave and it's at this point where the dam breaks inside of him. "That bastard! Why'd he have to go and die right when I was getting stronger than him?!" He roars, going to the grave and kicking the headstone, nearly breaking his foot. "You were supposed to be invincible," he snarls down at the headstone. "I can't believe you'd go and let some girl stab you. You always swore you'd find Igneel one day. Well how are you supposed to do that if you're dead?!" he roars, clutching at the sides of the headstone.


	31. Chapter 31

"Gray," Juvia cries, coming behind Gray and hugging him, holding him back from doing any more damage to Natsu's grave.

The flowers Erza just placed are tattered, but still intact. Gray picks them off the ground and straightens them up in the bouquet before placing them back on Natsu's grave. "Erza, you chose good flowers," Gray says quietly. "For both of them." he looks over at Lucy's grave, tears blurring his vision. When he looks up at the sky, he swears he can see both Natsu and Lucy standing together in the sky, watching the funeral. "You assholes better be happy!" Gray calls up to the sky. Juvia stands up, pulling Gray with her. She walks him away from the group so he can calm down.

Gray spots Loke standing in the background, strangely composed. "Hey!" Gray calls to him, breaking Juvia's hold on his arm and walking over to Loke. "What are you doing? Go say goodbye to Lucy, I know how much she meant to you."

"No, I think I'll leave now," Loke tells him evenly. "I just needed to see everyone one last time. It's likely I won't see you guys again. My key could fall anywhere."

Gray looks at Loke for a moment, confused. "You're not sad she's gone? Or Natsu? Man you were part of the guild for years, you and Natsu were buds. and Lucy saved your ass from disappearing!"

Loke turns away from Gray, feeling uncomfortable. "Everyone dies," he says finally.

Something inside Gray snaps; he was already on edge. he grabs Loke and slams him against the wall. "Everybody dies, is that what you just said?" Gray asks, enraged. "You're going to stand there and tell me you aren't sad at all? That's messed up!"

He brings his fist back and punches Loke in the face. "I can't accept that you plan on just standing there cool as a cucumber while we're all trying to come to terms with the fact that they aren't coming back," Gray roars, punching Loke again.

Loke stands there, taking Gray's wrath, knowing Gray can't help himself at a time like this. He watches Gajeel and Max pull Gray off him, getting dirty looks from them and other members of the guild. He turns toward the wall and vanishes back to his world.

"I've seen enough of that," he says to Aries when he gets back.

"I'm sorry, was it bad?" Aries asks him anxiously.

Loke nods. "It was harder than I thought it would be. Gray was especially torn up." He looks up at the sky and scowls. "And they want to watch until it's over. Man, they're crazy."

Back at the church, Wendy is on her knees, sobbing to the ground. Mirajane is holding a sobbing Erza, and Juvia is holding Gray up, he's sobbing into his hand. "I should have been there," Erza, Gray, and Wendy all say in unison.

The rain fades and clears then, to everyone's dismay. Master Makarov steps forward, his mind clearing. "There's one thing left to do," he tells his guild.

Cana, Levy, Droy, Erza, Wakaba, Macao, Romeo, Bisca, Arzack, Gildarts, Gray, Laxus, Freed, Evergreen, Reedus, Wendy, Juvia, Gajeel, Max, and Laki stand in two rows in front of Natsu and Lucy's graves with Makarov standing alone at the head of the two lines.

Mavis stands to the side, staring up into the sky. "We're saying goodbye to two precious children of Fairy Tail," she starts. she looks down at the graves and up at the sky again. "Natsu and Lucy, there are three things you both should know if you're going to leave us."

Makarov raises his hand to the sky, flames erupting from his palm. One by one, the twenty behind him begin preparing to shoot some kind of magic sparks.

"Number one: You must never reveal sensitive information about Fairy Tail to others for as long as you live."

Those with fire magic choose fire, those without choose their own magic to send into the heavens.

"Number two: You must never use former contacts met through your being in the guild for personal gain," Mavis continues, her eyes still locked on to the sky.

Makarov fires into the sky, followed by the first row.

"And number three: Though our paths may have diverged," Mavis starts, her eyes cleared of tears, her face set in an unreadable fashion.

The second row sets off their sparks.

"You must continue to live out your life with all your might, you must never consider your own life to be something insignificant."

The 21 wizards send a second round of sparks into the sky.

"and you must never forget about your friends for as long as you live." Mavis finishes, leading a moment of silence as everyone watches the sparks in the sky erupt and fade out.

A Fairy Tail 21 gun salute and send off for Natsu and Lucy. They finish off with their signature hand gesture.

When all is said and done, Natsu and Lucy watch everyone linger around, consoling each other. Romeo's standing tall, too proud to cry, but Natsu and Lucy can see the pain behind the wall he's building. Gajeel is reaching out to Levy, which surprised both Lucy and Natsu. Carla and Wendy set out to find Happy, who refused to go to the funeral. Juvia, Mirajane, Elfman, and Lisannna take Gray and Erza away from the church. Gray is still cursing hysterically and Erza is still trying desperately to hold herself together.

"I can't watch this anymore," Lucy cries into Natsu's shoulder.

Natsu stares down at his guild, unsure of what to make of this experience. He'd wanted to see it to make sure everyone else was okay, but he can't explain the range of emotions he's feeling now. Confusion, denial, love for his guild, guilt for putting them through this pain, anger that he let something like this happen... "I can't believe we're really dead."

"I hope they'll be okay," Lucy whimpers.

"Yeah," Natsu agrees, at a loss of words.

"Are you two ready, Princess?" Virgo asks Lucy.

"Let's do it," Lucy says, looking up at Natsu. "If we do this, we'll be able to see everyone again. Someday..."

Natsu nods his head and Virgo reaches out to take them both into the celestial spirit world.

* * *

**So I had some help with this chapter. A friend of mine offered some ideas for how I should write the funeral scene. Actually, she gave me some ideas here and there starting here. Her account is Suzisomething on this website.**


	32. Chapter 32

It's different than Lucy thought it would be. The Celestial Spirit World is the place where all spirits come from and spend time when they aren't working for their key holder. It's a place where spirits go to rejuvinate their energy and magic after being on Earth Land. The longer a spirit spends on Earth Land, the more energy and magic they'll have to replenish. Lucy knew that the reverse is true for humans; they can't spend time in the Celestial Spirit World because humans can't breathe there.

Lucy looks around to see a restaurant, where a gorgeous aurora could be seen. She remembers Scorpio talking about it once. There are planet like orbs surrounding the land Lucy and Natsu stand on now. The two are surrounded by spirits; the 12 zodiac spirits all stand at the head of the group, in front of the Celestial Spirit King. Lucy can see the most common spirit is the little doggy, Nikora. Dozens of different types of silver key spirits crowd behind Natsu and Lucy as they face the twelve zodiacs and the king.

"Are you two ready?" Loke asks them.

"Sure, as ready as I'll ever be," Lucy tells him. "I never thought I'd become a celestial spirit. I didn't even think this was possible."

"It's never been done, but we do have an initiation process for wizards who pass before their time, who embody the qualities of certain constellations to become the spirit of that constellation," Capricorn explains.

"First," The king says, his voice booming over the open space. "You'll learn our rules. Lucy, you may know a few of the rules we have."

"One, once you form a contract with a wizard, you're bound to that contract until the wizard lifts it, dies, or gets arrested," Aquarius states.

"Two. You cannot directly or indirectly kill your summoner," Leo states.

"Those are the two main rules," Scorpio states. "Most of the time, those rules aren't an issue. You'll figure out how to get along with wizards as you go."

"As you both know, some wizards can be cruel," Gemini starts.

"You'll find one way or another to cope with the different wizards you might get. Just don't break those rules and you'll do great, baby!" Cancer tells them.

"And I already know the rules about humans travelling here," Lucy states. "and about dropping keys. Though, I don't know how strict I would be able that one. I know from experience sometimes wizards can't help it if they lose their keys."

"Yeah you just loved dropping keys when you were a wizard," Aquarius snaps. "Anyway, do you two agree to the rules?"

"Yes, I do," Lucy swears.

"Same here." Natsu grins, crossing his heart earnestly.

"Next we'll make your keys," the Celestial Spirit King states, holding how his giant hand. "And you'll be given your constellation and name."

"We don't keep our own names?" Natsu asks, confused.

"No," Lucy states. "Our names are going to correlate to the constellation. I can guess who you'll be, Draco, the dragon spirit. But what about me?" she asks the king. "I don't embody any qualities of any of the constellations."

"I wouldn't say that, Princess," Virgo argues with a smile.

Lucy thinks about it and looks up at the king, confused. "I don't know."

"Andromeda," the king points out.

"Andromeda? That's a constellation named after a princess who lived hundreds of years ago," Lucy recalls, still confused.

"So you're the princess spirit?" Natsu asks Lucy.

"The Princess and the Dragon, Andromeda and Draco," Leo says thoughtfully.

"Has a nice ring to it," Taurus exclaims.

"Okay, so we know our names and constellations," Natsu says impatiently. He and Lucy watch the king's hand glow both blue and red, the colors swirling together. He holds out his other hand to Lucy and natsu and they both start glowing too.

"You'll be transformed into true Celestial Spirits now," he says.

Lucy's glowing a bright blue color. The color fully engulfs her, and when the light fades, she still looks like herself despite some noticeable changes. The first thing that Lucy notices is her clothing, they have a dark blue and gold theme. A dark blue mini skirt paired with a dark blue halter top, both trimmed in gold. She wears black ankle boots on her feet and blue and gold elbow high gloves on her arms. She looks to a nearby reflective surface and notices her ears are pointed, her eyes are more angular and the color changed from brown to a more golden color. her hair is still bright blonde, but longer and in pigtails. A gold tiara with blue stones encrusted in it rests on Lucy's head. The biggest surprise to Lucy is the large fairy wings of blue and gold fluttering open on her back.

Natsu, on the other hand, finds himself engulfed in the red light, coming out more changed than Lucy had been. He's still got a human's stature, but his arms are scaly and clawed, much like his legs. There's still human skin on most of his head and neck, but around the hairline, coming into his cheeks, red scales match the scales on his body. His neck is scaled at the sides. His eyes are a flaming red and his hair, still pink, is longer and wilder than before. Natsu's clothes are similar to his usual clothes. a sleeveless dark blue waist coat, zipped up and tucked, with golden trim and white knee length trousers. He's barefoot and wristbandless, though he still wears his trademark white scale patterned scarf.

They look at each other curiously at first. "If I didn't know you," Lucy starts. "I'd be terrified. You've always wanted to be a real dragon, right?"

"You're a fairy princess," Natsu states, looking her up and down. "Do you have a tail?"

Lucy looks behind her to check. She grins at the sight of a thin, blue tail that matches her wings. She focuses for a moment to make it move to the side so Natsu can see. "That's weird," she remarks. "But this is actually really cool!"

Two gold keys appear in front of Natsu and Lucy. They hold out their hands to examine their key. Natsu's has the form of a dragon etched into the metal while Lucy's key has her face carved into hers.

"Your keys will be sent to Earthland for a Celestial Wizard to find," Sagittarius announces. "Yes indeed!"

"And finally," Leo starts slowly, carefully. Lucy looks up, not liking the tone in his voice. "Your human memories are going to be erased."

"What?" Natsu shouts, eyes wide. "What do you mean erased?"

"You mean we won't remember anything?" Lucy asks, shocked. She thinks for a second, "not our childhood, not our family, not our friends? We won't remember Fairy Tail or -?" She looks at Natsu grabbing onto his arm.

"You two won't change. Your personalities and tastes. You'll fall in love with each other all over again," Aries squeaks. "I'm sorry!"

"The only reason I'm doing this is so I can see my friends again!" Natsu argues.

"So let's say you keep your memories," Leo starts. "What if the wizard who holds your contract happens to go up against someone from Fairy Tail. Could you follow your summoner's will and fight a member of your old guild? Could you kill a member of your old guild if your new master ordered it?"

Natsu freezes, a realization hitting him like a ton of bricks. The new summoner could be a bad guy, someone from a dark guild, an enemy of Fairy Tail. And he already agreed to the rules, not thinking something like that could happen.

"I already know of a Celestial Spirit Mage I'll present your keys to," the king tells Natsu and Lucy. "She's a young Celestial Spirit Mage. She'd do well to have two strong spirits such as yourselves."

"Do we really need to lose our memories?" Lucy asks him. She knows Loke is right that human memories could hold her back from performing her duties as a celestial spirit, but the idea of being turned against her beloved Fairy Tail, with or without her memories, is too horrible to think about. But either way, once it's done, it's done. if she just allows it to happen, it will be easier on her later. "I won't remember the relationship I had with any of you," she says sadly to the spirits she had contracted. "But I understand it's for the best."

"Lucy?!" Natsu protests.

"Do you want to die now?" Lucy asks him calmly. "We can live on as spirits, become as strong as we can be, and hope that our keys fall into good hands. Memories are a small price to pay if I can live on with you by my side," she says, smiling up at Natsu.

Natsu gives her a hard look for a moment before his expression softens and he looks ahead at the Spirit King. "FIne," she allows. "How likely is it we'll run into Fairy Tail anyway?" he admits, reasoning with himself.

The Celestial Spirit King raises his hands above Lucy and Natsu. Lucy grips Natsu's arm, closing her eyes until it's over. Natsu watches the Zodiac Spirits in front of him, their expressions are all a mix of sadness and pity, some faces are impassive and unreadable. He lifts his hand up to cover Lucy's hand, and waits while his human memories are wiped from his head. No more memories of Igneel, no more memories of Fairy Tail. The last thing to vanish are the guild insignias on Natsu's shoulder and Lucy's hand.

"Welcome Andromeda and Draco, the spirits of the Princess and the Dragon," the Spirit King says when he's done.

* * *

**So what do you guys think of Lucy and Natsu's spirit forms?**


	33. Chapter 33

**These next few chapters are written in Gray's perspective.**

**I'm glad people are enjoying the story!**

**Please keep the feedback coming! I really do love the reviews! 3**

* * *

It's been three months since Natsu and Lucy died. Fairy Tail has changed a lot without them, and Lisanna, Levy, and Mirajane have this insufferable habit of breaking down and crying every now and then if someone brings up Natsu or Lucy, or if they just remember something about them, or if something someone does or says reminds them of the two. Basically, they'll start crying spontaneously. It's gotten to the point where I can't bear being anywhere near any them.

I'm depressed enough, I don't need them making it worse.

My team mates, my best friends are gone.

The guild hall is a quiet place now, and it actually feels like a place for work. Nobody feels like rough housing or brawling like we used to, not without Natsu. The girls, who used to go out all the time, all keep to their own teams since Lucy isn't here. Some people, who weren't close to Natsu or Lucy, are fine, but they're minor members who don't hang around the guild hall much anyway.

Master Makarov has been the worst part of all of this. He's acting like nothing bad has happened, like nobody just died. Yeah, i get that he's doing it to show us how Natsu and Lucy would want us to act, but it's too soon for me to move on.

Levy and Erza went through Lucy's old apartment to round up some of the things Lucy's want them to hold on to before her land lady offficially rented the place out to a new girl, some freelance photographer. The girls read all of Lucy's writing and passed it around to the rest of the guild, and just a couple weeks after Lucy's death, Levy had a lot of it put together and published. Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail is a popular writer now. Levy said she'd had to order three new printings alreay since the book is flying off the shelves. Now Levy is making us write tributes to Lucy to throw into a new printing, something for the about the author section.

Happy stayed gone for about a week after the funeral. he started coming back to take small delivery jobs for food money. People have checked the house he shared with Natsu, but from the looks of it, he hasn't been staying there. The place hasn't been lived in since Natsu was alive.

Erza has been working solo jobs again. She hasn't teamed up with anyone and she doesn't look like she wants to. She's a lot like Happy; she comes in for job requests but most of the time she stays out of the guild hall.

Wendy and Carla are the only two who will work in a team with other people. Carla insisted Wendy get back in the game, and Wendy managed to pull herself out of her depression enough to appease the white exceed.

As for me, I've been working on my own. I spend my time in the guild hall when I'm not working. I can compete with Cana in drinking now, but recently she decided she doesn't like drinking with me. She says I'm drinking for the wrong reasons, I tell her to leave it alone, and she does.

Except Lisanna just burst out crying again. Right. Next. To Me.

"Lisanna, this is driving me crazy," I snap at her. "Knock that fucking crying off."

Mirajane reaches across the counter and slaps me in the face. "Gray Fullbuster, you do not swear at my sister."

"You do it too!" I snap at her.

"Gray." Juvia reaches out to me but I shrug her off and give her a look to tell her to back off.

"We all lost them," Mirajane tells me harshly. "And we're all coping with it however we can. You cope by drinking? Fine, then drink away. You do not yell at someone for expressing sorrow. Apologize to her."

I glare at Mirajane and push my stool back, downing the rest of my drink. I get up and turn to go when Mirajane reaches over and grabs me.

"Gray," she tells me, her voice softening. "We're all sad they're gone. You should stop acting like you're grieving alone."

I pull away from her and spot Erza watching me from the door. I stop and stare back at her, wondering what she could possibly be thinking.

Suddenly she approaches me and grabs my arm. "We're going on a job together," she informs me and drags me over to the request board, where Wendy is reading a request in her hand. She looks up, concerned. "Wendy, you and Carla should come too," Erza tells her.

"Would you like to go on this security job?" she asks Erza and I, holding up the flyer for us to read.

"That'll do," Erza says, barely reading it over. I nod, uninterested either way.

Wendy goes to sign up or the job officially and Master Makarov looks up at us, surprised when Wendy tells him we're all going together. he gives us a pleased smile and sends Wendy back to us.

The four of us leave the guild hall together and head over to Fairy Hills, where Erza gets her car and we head off to Acalypha, where we're going to be security for a conference or something.

The first thing that comes to mind when we start moving is how quiet it is; I'm used to hearing Natsu bitching about his stomach during vehicle rides.

I catch a look on Wendy's face, she's thinking about the same thing. She catches me glancing at her and looks away. "So, um," she starts, trying to think of something to fill the silence, probably. "How have your jobs been?" she asks me and Erza. "Carla and I haven't been on a lot of jobs, but we worked for some nice people the other day.

"I had a job clearing some demons out of a village a few weeks ago. The demons spoke in song and moved in dance," Erza laughs. "I thought for sure I was being pranked. That is, before one of them danced at me with a giant meat cleaver."

"Gray," Wendy starts to ask, "what about you? Have you had any interesting jobs?"

I shrug, "nothing in particular."

She doesn't answer me and I glance over at her to see she's staring out the window, I see she's frowning at her reflection.

I feel bad for not trying harder to be civil, but at the same time why bother? The only reason we were ever a team was because we had Natsu and Lucy. Originally it was Natsu, Erzam and I ever now and then when Erza thought she needed us, but then Lucy joined in and we became an official team. After Wendy Joined Fairy Tail, she'd join us for big jobs. Now without Natsu and Lucy, the group feels incomplete and weird.

When we get to Acalypha we head straight over to the conference hall and find out we're specifically protecting some artifacts on display for the conference. We break into different positions and split up. I'm outside the building, watching to make sure nobody enters after the conference starts. Erza is inside, participating in the events. Wendy and Carla are both going to be staff at the conference hall.

The conference starts and I start looking out for suspicious types. I saw a photo of who I might expect, but I just freeze anyone who comes near the building, and by a stroke of luck, I'm right every time. By the end of the conference, I've caught five crooks. Erza's detained one that snuck in with the regular crowd, and Wendy got one who was posing as staff.

"All these people wanted to steal a… rock?" Wendy guesses, looking at the tablet behind a glass case.

"It's an ancient tablet with text from a dead language on it. It's very valuable but at the same time, it's a magnificent piece that students of history and archaeology appreciate seeing." The director of the conference tells her enthusiastically.

I look at the tablet and scowl. A flash of the tablet on Atropine appears in my mind and I turn away from it, heading for the door. "Let's go," I tell the girls.

The curator quickly gives Erza, Wendy, and Carla his thanks and gives Wendy the payment for the successful job. She splits it up and hands us our share.

In the car nobody says a word for half the ride. Then out of the blue Wendy starts crying. Erza stops the vehicle and looks back at her concerned. Carla puts her paws on Wendy's knees and jumps into her lap. I look over at her, wondering what the deal is.

"What's wrong?" Erza asks Wendy after a minute.

"We did well on the job, so what's the matter?" Carla adds, concerned.

"It's just so hard," Wendy sobs. "No matter how hard I try, I'm still sad and I can't help it."

I grimace. Oh. "Wendy," I start. "I know I haven't been a big help there. I'm sorry."

"Everyone grieves at their own pace, in their own way," Erza tells her soothingly, sounding like Mirajane. "You don't need to act happy and strong if at your core, you're hurting. It's true, Natsu and Lucy are dead," she says quietly, pausing at the last word. "But I know for a fact they'd loath us for acting the way we have been acting. None of us has coped very well and I'm ashamed of that."

I agree with her. Erza withdrew and cut herself off, I started drinking to escape, Wendy tried to move on too quickly, and Happy… he's nowhere to be found most of the time.

"Like the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, we must follow that example and take things one day at a time. We must live one day at a time," Erza concludes..

Wendy sniffs and wipes at her eyes. She nods and smiles up at us. "We're going to be okay, right? I really do want to work with you guys normally, like we used to… I think they'd want us to keep working together, not for them, but for us."

I nod. "Agreed. Again, I'm sorry I've been a huge jerk lately."

"It's alright, Gray," Erza says from the driver's seat, driving again. "We've all acted childishly. Let's all just move on and let it go."


	34. Chapter 34

When we get to Fairy Hills, we all get out of the car to walk back to the guild hall. Erza goes into Fairy Hills to take care of something, so just Wendy, Carla, and I go back to Fairy Tail. The air between us feels lighter, matching my somewhat lighter mood.

When we reach the guild hall, there's a girl standing on the street in front of it. She's got long yellow-orange hair and anxious eyes of the same color.

"Hey, do you need help with something?" I call out to her, approaching her. She looks lost and scared about something. Something in her eyes looks kind of wild and,,, dangerous.

She looks at me, the anxiety growing. "Oh! Uh," she bites her lip. "I - I need to find Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail."

My eyes narrow slightly. "Oh, well she won't be here for a while. What's your name?"

"Aki." And then she squints and looks down at the ground. "I mean, I'm someone who has business with her. Where can I find her?"

"What business?" I ask her, confused. Erza's never mentioned a girl named Aki before.

"Gray, get out of the way!" Erza roars from above me. I look up and jump out of the way just in time for Erza to crash down where I'd been standing and sweep a sword out at Aki. Aki jumps away from Erza and then launches herself back at her with blazing eyes and purple flaming hands.

"You murderer!" Aki shrieks.

"I could say the same to you!" Erza roars.

"What's going on?!" Wendy cries, coming to my side.

"Caelum!" Aki shouts, holding out two silver keys. Two sword spirits appears in front of Aki and she grabs them both by the hilt and assaults Erza. "You murdered my brother!" she screams at Erza.

"You murdered two of my close friends! It evens out!" Erza counters, blocking the assault easily, sending Aki back into a defensive position.

"I didn't murder anybody! I was helping my brother on a job and then I turn to see you murder him! I barely got away!" Aki retorts, glaring at Erza.

"I won't tolerate lying!" Erza launches herself forward, slashing through both Caelum weapon spirits and sending them back to the Celestial Spirit World.

Aki jumps back to avoid Erza's advances and pulls out a gold key.

"No way, she's got a zodiac spirit?" I watch in awe at this girl. She can't be any older than Lucy was, she looks younger, actually. SHe's holding her own against Erza in combat, she's a fire wizard, and a celestial wizard? Who is this girl?

"I just made a contract with him a few days ago so I hope he'll be up for this!" Aki says before holding out the gold key. "Open: Gate of the Dragon, Draco!"

"Dragon?" Wendy asks anxiously. "There was never a dragon in the zodiac, right, Gray?"

"No," I comnfirm. "Lucy never said there was a gold key that wasn't a zodiac, either," I tell her and watch the air in front of Aki glow a violent red and black. A man appears in front of Aki with scaled arms and legs and claws. he has deep flame red eyes and -

Pink Hair and a while scale patterned scarf.

This takes Erza by surprise and she lets him send her flying back through the guild building. This brings many members of the guild outside to see what's going on and Erza comes back outsiide with them Everyone is staring, wide eyed.

"It's not possible," Lisanna exclaims.

"Natsu?!" Laki yelps, shocked.

"What the hell, Salamander?!" Gajeel roars, stepping forward to fight.

"Gajeel, stay back," Erza commands him and takes her place back out on the battle field. "I am Natsu's opponent." Her voice wavers, though I don't know if anyone else noticed it.

"Hey, Aki? Why are they callin' me Natsu?" he asks the orange haired girl behind him.


	35. Chapter 35

"I don't know, Draco,"Aki tells him, just as confused, looking a bit concerned. "Why are you all calling him Natsu?" she asks me curiously.

"Because that's our friend that you murdered," I tell her, feeling my insides twisting up. Did this girl really kill Natsu and Lucy? She doesn't look or act like a murderer. But what does a murder look like? Erza wouldn't lie about this.

I watch Natsu and Erza battle each other and notice Erza's crying, though she's already claimed the battle is hers, and hers alone. I look back at Aki, who's watching the fight anxiously.

I start making my way around the battle field, which is just the street in front of the guild hall, and walk toward Aki to talk to her more. Something is weird about all of this.

"Gray, be careful!" Wendy calls after me, her eyes flicking around between Natsu and Erza, to Aki, to me.

Natsu doesn't seem to like this idea of me getting close to Aki because a wall of fire blocks me from reaching her. "Don't go near her," he snarls at me, leaving himself open to get punched in the face by Erza.

"I am your opponent, Natsu," she tells him at the same time as I shoot a barage of ice needles at him in instinctive retaliation to the fire.

He glares back at me but Erza regains his attention. "Stop callin' me that," he tells her. "The name's Draco."

I make my way next to Aki and she glances at me. "She murderd my brother right in front of me," she tells me quietly. "I'm the only one here allowed to be angry."

"You seriously don't think you killed anyone?" I ask her, trying to keep calm. I need to hear her side of things before I act.

She shakes her head. "i would never kill anyone. And I know Adam would have never influenced me to."

"influence?" i ask, curious.

She looks at me, grimacing. "I'm… kind of clumsy, and I screw stuff up a lot. I might be a good fighter and all that, but I still screw something up whenever I try to do things. So my brother gave me something to wear that he could use to help me become something better. When I'm under that spell though, I don't always remember what he has me do. he said it's a side effect of the charm. It broke when Erza murdered him! I was helping him do whatever the job was and then I woke up to find him dead, along with some guy and some girl. I barely got away before she got me."

I stare at her wide eyed. She thinks Erza killed Natsu and Lucy. It makes sense in a really messed up way. If what she's saying is true, her brother is the reason Natsu and Lucy are dead. Aki was just… a tool for him to use. If she'd been under the charm when she killed them, of course she wouldn't remember doing it. When the charm was broken, she just saw two dead bodies and her brother being killed. It makes sense that she'd think Erza was the only murderer there.

"Your brother deserved to die," I tell her straight out. "Don't you get it? he was using you to do bad things. That job? you were helping bandits get stolen magic weapons to a war in another country. Natsu and Lucy were both protecting the border so they couldn't transport those weapons. So your brother decided they needed to die for interfering. Your brother made you kill Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia and you need to admit that to us and pay for what you've done!" I feel rage building inside me despite my effort to stay calm.

Her eyes widen. "No way! Adam wouldn't do that to me!" She exclaims. She looks out at Erza and Natsu then and starts shaking, almost violentmy. "Draco, stop! Come back, now!" she commands and he stops mid flaming punch and looks back at her, confused and annoyed.

"This person killed your family, didn't she? I'll make her pay," he argues with her.

"Just go back! Gate of the Dragon, Close!" Aki commands and closes his gate by force. She takes one last look at me before running off. Jet cuts her off and she stumbles back, staring up at him. The others start approaching her and she gets to her feet again.

Erza and I walk up to her, side by side, and stare at her. "You're not running from us now. You're going to pay for what you've done," Erza says darkly.

Aki''s expression sets in determination and she rushes Erza and I, purple hands out in front of her. She taps each of us on the chest and then uses us to push herself up and over the group and sprints off. Jet and a few others go to follow her.

I stumble down to the ground and grit my teeth, feeling a pain spreading in my body. I try to ignore it to go follow the group, but I just fall back down.

"Stop moving!" Wendy cries and comes to mine and Erza's side. She flips me over onto my back and puts one hand over my chest, and the other over Erza's. She sniffles and averts her eyes. "It's the same thing from before, the thing that killed Lucy and Natsu. I can stop it this time."

"She got away," Elfman says. I tilt my head up to glare at him. "She outran us, even Jet."

"Find her. We need to talk to her about what she did, but at the same time, I have a bad feeling she's in trouble," I tell him.

Elfman nods and holds up a card to relay this to Jet and anyone else who went out to look for Aki. Cana's cards really do come in handy for stuff like this.

When Wendy finishes healing Erza and I, she insists we don't run off to search for Aki. "You need to take it easy. That venom is tough to heal and you might still have some side effects of being hit by it so close to your vital organs. I'm just glad she didn't combine it with fire magic this time."

So we go inside the guild hall to wait for the others. We pass Makarov, Laxus, and Mirajane as they go out to join the party. For the first time in a long time, Master looks like he's going to acknowledge Natsu and Lucy's deaths and get some kind of revenge. It's about time.


	36. Chapter 36

When I reach the forest outside of Magnolia I jump up into the trees to find a good hiding place. I find a hollowed out, dead, tree not far from where I met Natsu for the first time.

I crawl into the tree and hug my knees to my chest, taking deep breaths to keep myself calm. all at once, I start hyperventilating, overheating, and crying, which causes my breathing to become choked, which makes the hyperventilating worse. Slowly, steadily, I force myself to become mute, so my persuers won't hear me and find me.

After I'm sure nobody is around anymore, I crawl back out of the tree and look around cautiously to make sure I'm alone. I pull out the gold key with a girl's face etched into the metal. I hold it out in ffront of me so she'll appear on the branch with me. "Open: Gate of the Princess, Andromeda!" I whisper, just to be extra sure nobody will overhear me.

She appears in front of me with an anxious smile on her face. "Draco told me you were just fighting the girl who killed your brother. Are you alright?" she asks me and glances around warily.

"I got away from them so I could figure some things out," I tell her. "Can I ask you something?"

She checks around us a few more times and when she's sure we're alone, she sits down on the branch and pats the spot next to her for me to sit with her. I do and she waits attentively for me to ask my question.

"How did you come to be a spirit?" I ask her, nervous that she might think it's inappropriate to ask something like that.

She looks startled for a moment before looking down at her lap. ""I don't know how I came to be a Celestial Spirit. It happened just a day or so ago, that'd be a few months here. Anyway, Draco and I came to be together. We made contracts with you almost right after we were created, and since then I've been spending all of my time reading and learning about my world and yours, training, and he's been training nonstop. That's all I know."

I nod, taking that in. It makes sense. I made a contract with them a week ago, and I've only called on each of them today. They're both only available to me on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, accoording to the contracts I made with them. Something comes to me then and I look up at Andromeda.

"They were saying Draco is someone called Natsu. Can human mages become Celestial Spirits?" I ask her.

She looks at me like I've got three heads, and they're all speaking a different kind of jibberish. "It's never been done before, not to my knowledge." She holds her hands out and a book appears. The pages start flipping and she scans through them untiil she finds what she's looking for. "But," she starts thoughtfully. "It can be done. According to this, if a wizard dies before his or her natural time, the Celestial Spirit King can choose to make him or her a Stellar Spirit of a constellation that isn't yet represented."

I grimace, thinking about how Fairy Tail hadreacted to Draco, and I hate to admit it, but he does look a lot like the Natsu I met here in the forest before that fateful night when my brother was murdered.

And if I really think about it… I can see the faces of those two who'd been stabbed just before my brother. I could have sworn the stabbing was from Erza's swords, but now that I think of it… "Oh," I gag, feeling as though I'll be physically ill. I jump down from the tree and run into some bushes, dropping down to my knees. When I'm done, I crawl back out into the open and sit up, realizing and accepting the horrible truth. "I did kill those two. It was my venom flame blade magic," I whisper, staring at the ground.

"Funny that you were the only one of any of us who could master that technique, on top of creating it all on your own? It's the only impressive thing you've ever done on your own," a voice says darkly from directly behind me.

I look behind me to see my father crouching down behind me. I jump and fall forward, throwing my hands out in front of me to stop from face plainting. "Father," I gasp, mortified.

He stands up tall and I look up at him. "I see you've failed to avenge your brother."

I turn to face him, kneeling. "She was with other members of Fairy Tail. I could have done it if she'd been alone."

"Pitiful. You can't do a thing without your brother's control magic to influence you," my mother says from the shadows. I look around to find her to my left, leaning against a tree. She approaches me, stopping just a foot away. Her long dark orange hair is tied near the bottom to keep it from flying everywhere. her dark orange, nearly red, eyes burn into mine.

"Mother," I greet shakily. "Please, tell me I didn't murder two mages that day. please tell me Adam didn't turn me into a murderer."

"I'm no liar," she tells me with a shrug. "They were getting in the way. You and your brother had to make money some how, so he did everything in his power to succeed in that job. It's your fault the mission failed."

"Aki," Andromeda calls from the tree above me.

"Stay where you are, Andromeda," i instruct her and look up at my parents, feelin a sense of betrayal I never thought I'd ever feel. "I trusted you. I trusted all of you.."

"A mistake," my father tells me with a wicked grin, pyshing back his greasy blonde hair.

I look down at the ground and glare at the dirt and grass below me. I can feel rage building within me. How could they do this to me? "How could you? I never wanted this. All I ever wanted was your approval, I did everything you asked. I trained every day of my life to become strong. That wasn't good enough for you?"

"You lacked the intelligence to use that power," my father tells me. "We simply gave Adam permission to use you to the best of your ability."

I glower up at him and stand up, tearing Adam's charm off of my neck and throwing it to the ground. "How dare you do this to me. I'm glad Adam is dead. I should go back and thank Erza Scarlet for setting me free from his control."

"You'd thank a guild wizard for murdering your brother?" my mother shrieks, losing her composure at my remark.

"I would," I tell her calmly. "And I'll gladly let her and her guild avenge their comrades deaths. It's a despicable thing to murder someone, and I'll never be able to atone for what I've done."

"We'll kill you right here and save them the trouble," my father growls and raises his hand. My mother raises hers and locks her fingers with my father's. "Like the weed you are, we'll exterminate you." Together they create a great big venom flame, something they can't create on their own like I can, and they bring down their hands to strike me. It all hapens so fast; I try jumping out of the way but I won't make it. Damn my mother. Her speed is greater than mine.

A bright yellow light rockets past me from above and sends both of my parents back. Andromeda grabs me and pulls me behind her.

"I'm sorry I disobeyed your order but I couldn't just sit back and let you die," she tells me, her tone serious.

I shake my head, my whole body shaking from stress. "Thank you for disobeying me."

My parents recover quickly from Andromeda's starlight magic. My mom goes after Andromeda while my father comes after me. He can use venom magic and fight well, while my mother can use fire magic and speed magic.

Against Andromeda, my mom isn't getting anywhere. The stellar spirit laughs at all of my mom's fire attacks and can dodge her speed with ease. "Your flames are pretty lame," Andromeda giggles. "I know a guy who'd put them to shame."

"Did you just rhyme on purpose, or -?" I ask her, blocking a drop kick from my father and throwing his back before he can poison me.

"Maybe," Andromeda responds, knocking my mother unconscious, finally.

I glance back to see her for a second and my father lands a solid hit on the back of my head. The venom only takes a second to start spreading.

I cry out, feeling the pressure in my head increase as venom starts battling my brain, spinal fluid, and skull for space. I drop down to my hands and knees and see purple spots filling my vision. Andromeda blasts my father away from me and I hear crashing sounds as he tears through foliage.

"What happened?" I hear Draco exclaim.

"You opened your own gate?" Andromeda asks him, sounding shocked and thrilled all at once. "Her parents attacked her! I knocked out her mom and she was fighting her dad but she got distracted and he landed an attack on her."

Draco holds me up and looks into my face. His eyes widen in horror when he sees what's happening. "He poisoned her," he exclaims. He pulls me onto his back and stands up. "We need to get her somewhere so she can be healed. Now," he tells Andromeda, his voice sharp and angry. "I swear I'll kill her parents."

"Bring her this way!" A woman calls out from nearby just as I fade into unconsciousness.


	37. Chapter 37

"Wait, what are you doing?" I hear Andromeda inqure of someone.

"I'll kill 'em for doing this to her," I hear Draco exclaim, cracking his knuckles. "They're her family, aren't they? Some family they are!"

I keep my eyes closed so I can listen to the conversation for a while, also I feel like my head's exploding over and over, pulsing pain comes in and out. If I open my eyes it might get worse.

"Those two wizards already went to take care of them," Andromeda points out to him.

"I ain't trustin' them!" Draco proclaims hotly. "They're part of that guild with that other one who killed Aki's brother!"

"You didn't hear her say she's glad he's dead? or how much he manipulated her?" Andromeda asks him. "He made her do horrible things, and she decided she was glad he's dead."

Draco is silent for a while. "More reason to go after those two. They need to pay for what they did to Aki."

"Draco, go back," i splutter, choking on air. my throat is so dry. "Andromeda, you too. Thank you both for saving me."

"I can't leave you here alone," Draco insists.

I open my eyes then and prove my earlier fear correct. "Argh!" I exclaim, squeezing my eyes shut again. "Draco, don't worry about me." My eyes were open long enough for me to see Draco and Andromeda had changed into their human forms. This form lets them stick around longer in the human world without using so much magic.

"Do you even know where you are right now?" Andromeda asks me.

I think about it and shake my head. "No, I don't."

"The Fairy Tail guild master brought us to a friend of his. She's a healer and she's the reason you're alive. But this is still Fairy Tail territory. I'm worried if we leave you here you'll be in danger."

"You need not worry about the girl," an old man's voice assures my spirits. "I saw everything that happened. I won't let harm come to her. You have my word."

I risk opening my eyes again and keep them open so my eyes can adjust to the light and I can get used to the pain. "Andromeda and Draco, go back," i command them and they both vanish. "Thank you, but I can handle things from now on."

Draco fights angrily against the gate closure but Andromeda makes him stop. I close my eyes against the light again andd sigh heavily, relaxing my tense muscles.

"Are they them?" I ask the old man, rolling onto my side without opening my eyes. I feel something touching my forehead, something goopy and warm. Whatever the woman is doing, it's making my headache go away.

"They are, indeed, Natsu and Lucy of Fairy Tail," the old man answers me.

"Oh, no," I groan into my hand. "So it's all true. I am a murderer."

"Not by your own wit," the master argues me. I open my eyes to find him watching me from where he's sitting. The healing woman is standing over me, scowling down at me. She's done rubbing the warm solution on my face.

"Close your eyes again," she orders me and turns to leave the room. "You don't want to know how badly this would hurt if it got in your eyes."

I close my eyes again and try to ignore the weird algae scent and wonder what the accompanying scent is. It's something fruity and citric. "If only I could turn back time and realize sooner how my family was using me," I say bitterly.

"Hindsight is twenty/twenty," the master tells me. "Please, would you tell me exactly what your magic and combat skills are? I'm curious. I suppose you should tell me about your brother as well."

"My brother? He practiced shadow magic, though he wasn't very proficient in it. he could only possess another person's shadow for short periods of time, and that's only when he's managed to catch the other oerson. He also used control magic, like what he was doing to me. He was better at the manipulation than anything. His fighting skills were alright, though I've always been faster than he was." I pause, making sure I didn't leave anything out about my brother's power. I didn't, so I continue. "I've been training my body for combat since I was two," I tell him. "My mother taught me speed magic, my father taught me how to fight along with strength, durability, and endurance stuff like that. When I was five, they started teaching me their venom and fire magic. When I was ten I invented a sort of… combination magic where I would combinee the fire, venom, and my combat skills to turn my arms and legs into sharp blades, like swords. I called that vemon flame blade magic because I couldn't think of anything that sounded cooler. I try not to use this magic, I only came up with it to please my family. When I was 14 I decided to learn Celestial Magic, and they supported me as long as I kept working with my brother while I looked for and collected keys."

"Inventing magic?" he asks, sounding surprised. "That's quite impressive."

"Yeah," i say drily. "More like depressing."

He doesn't respond for a while so I continue. "What's worse is I don't know why they both had to become Celestial Spirits and why I had to get their keys. It's such a messed up twist of fate that I ran into you all and rubbed it in your faces what I did. And they don't remember being human. I wish I could fix that but I don't think I could! I'd need to ask some high level spirits who might know how, but I don't have any high level spirits," I ramble, getting more and more frustrated. "I screwed up again and I don't know what to do to fix it."

"Calm down, child," the guild master instructs me, his voice coming closer to me. I open my eyes for a split second before I remember the woman's threat and shut them again. "If you think you can find a way to return the memories of my children, I have something I can give you that might help."

"What's that?" I inquire curiously. "And why would you want to help me? I killed two of your guild members. How could you trust me?"

"Because I can see what kind of person you are," he says simply. "I will show you what I have for you later when I take you back to the Fairy Tail Guild Hall."

My eyes shoot open. He's going to deliver me to Erza to have her kill me. "Oh." I nod, fine with that.

He turns toward the door and leaves the room now. I close my eyes again to force myself to go back to sleep. My dreams are filled with the scent of Algae and citris.

When I wake up again the healing woman is staring down at me disapprovingly. She makes me get up and do some coordination exercises and then kicks me out of her house. Thankfully, I feel well enough to be out. I wonder if she would have kicked me out either way.

"Don't mind her," a white haired woman says. I turn away from the door and find her standing with a tall brooding blonde guy with a scar over his eye. The old man is standing with them. "She doesn't like people much," the woman finishes.

"We couldn't find your parents," the blonde guy tells me quickly, before I can ask. He goes back to glowering at me, a look of irritation on his face.

I stare at them apprehensively, considering my chances of escaping them. I could probably do it, but that'd be cowardly. "Are you all going to take me back to Fairy Tail?" I ask them.

The old man nods. "By the way. My name is Makarov Dreyar. This is my grandson Laxus Dreyar and this is Mirajane Strauss. They are both S class members of the guild."

I don't know what that means, but it sounds impressive and more than a little intimidating. It's a subtle threat, I think. I nod. "Hello Laxus, Mirajane, and Master Makarov. I am Aki Yoru."

"Good for you," Laxus says coldly.

"Be nice," Mirajane scolds him.

"No," Laxus refuses and motions for me to start walking.

Makarov sighs and starts walking through the forest. I follow him and Mirajane and Laxus follow me. I feel as though I'm being herded into a slaughterhouse.

When we enter Magnolia I watch building after building pass us until I spot the flag, that Fairy Tail insignia that I've always dreaded seeing. I remember seeing it on Natsu's shoulder after I realized he was a guild member. I remember seeing it on Erza's arm after she'd murdered Adam. I remember Gray's mark on his chest, because he'd taken his shirt off for some reason when he approached me.

Makarov opens the doors into the building and I pause just outside the door until Mirajane puts her hand on my arm. I look back at her and she smiles encouragement. I smile back at her and walk into the guild hall, groping for confidence and dignity. If I'm going to die here, I don't want to be remembered as dying like a total whimp.

Immediately I spot Erza standing with Gray and a few other people I haven't heard the names of. As if in sync, everyone's eyes flash in my direction, each pair of eyes stare at me with a mix of murderous anger, hatred, and resentment. "Nobody is to hurt her," Makarov says right off the bat.

"We learned some things when we found her in the forest," Mirajane explains quickly. "Her brother is the one responsible for Natsu and Lucy's deaths."

"She's the one who stabbed them," Erza argues.

"Under her brother's influence," Gray counters. He looks at me knowingly. "Is that right, Aki?"

I nod sadly and look down at the floor. "it doesn't excuse what I did. I delivered the final blow. Adam is dead, and I'm grateful for it, but I still feel as though I should receive punishment in his place. So please, kill me now and get it over with. I know that's why I'm here."

Nobody responds to this, which makes me feel even more overwhelmed. I continue, "I feel absolutely abominable for what happened. It's something I'll never be able to live with."

"She says she thinks she can restore their memories to them," the master says casually. "If she has the right help." He walks away from me, leaving me with Mirajane at my side. I watch Makarov go into a small room to the right of the entrence and comes back out with a key ring. It has two gold keys and two silver keys on it.

"I don't know why she's saying she's here to die when I told her that she's here for me to give her these," he says, holding up the keys for me.


	38. Chapter 38

"No!" Erza protests violently when she sees the keys. She steps forward. "I will not allow Lucy's killer to wield her keys!"

"They aren't her keys anymore," Master Makarov says sharply. He holds out the key ring to me. "Most of her keys have vanished from the ring in search of a new summoner. I have a hunch that these Stellar Spirits stayed for this purpose, to become yours, Aki."

I take the key ring and look at which spirits they are. Leo and Aquarius are the gold keys. Nikora and Crux are the silver keys. I can't help but start sobbing, though not from sadness. "With these, I think I could really bring their memories back," i tell Master Makarov. "But are you sure? Again, how can you trust me? I thought you brought me here to kill me."

He shakes his head. "Aki, you wouldn't understand this, but our guild, at the core, is about chances. We've given many people second chances, because we saw the good in them. Sure, you might have done terrible things, but it was not of your own will. You deserve a second chance, moreso than anyone I've ever brought into my home. Anyone who would deny that can speak with me privately. now, what are you going to do now that you have those keys?"

I look down at them and want so badly to summon one of the gold keys. I hold up Crux's gate key. "I don't have the stamina to summon Aquarius or Leo now, but I can see what Crux can tell me. He's supposed to know everything about Celestial Magic."

When I summon the old cross he and I build a contract before he'll tell me anything I want to know. He'll only see me twice a month. "Crux, what can you tell me about Andromeda and Draco?" I ask him.

He looks at me intently for a moment before he starts snoring. I stare at him in disbelief. "He fell asleep!" I exclaim, looking around.

A blue haired girl giggles, she's the girl Gray and Erza were with when I saw them before. "He's searching. Lucy said that's his way of doing things."

"Oh." I blush, feeling stupid for not knowing that.

I wait for Crux to finally tell me something when his eyes pop open and he starts yelling. I jump in surprise, off of the chair I'm sitting on and Mirajane, who hasn't left my side, helps me back up.

"Information about Andromeda, the spirit of the princess, and Draco, spirit of the dragon, is limited. They were once human. The Spirit King has blocked any further information on them."

I scowl and think about a new question. "What are the chances I'll get an audience with the Celestial Spirit King?"

He starts snoring again and I sigh, despising all of this waiting. When he yells again, I don't jump. "There is no chance. The Celestial Spirit King does not see humans."

Crux starts snoring again and I tilt my head to the side, expecting him to give me another answer. He doesn't wake up this time and I sigh, sending him back to his world.

"I refuse to believe that," I grumble when he's gone. "I will see him. It is not nice to steal people's memories." I hold up Aquarius's key, getting pissed off. "is there a body of water anywhere around here?"

"There's the canal. I'll take you," Mirajane offers.

"I'll go too! By the way, I'm Levy. You were fast earlier! You even outran Jet!" a blue haired girl greets me. She walks beside Mirajane and I as Mirajane leads me outside into the town of Magnolia. "And I thought you didn't have the energy for a Zodiac spirit?" Levy asks me curiously.

"I don't care. I'm getting fired up about this and it's going to just bother me if I don't do this now."

"I have an idea," Mirajane stops and turns to face me. "Let's go take a bath."

"Great idea!" Levy cheers. She laughs at my irritated expression. "The bath house in this town has a rejuvinating quality. It can restore your magic stamina and so much more. It feels amazing!"

I think about it and agree to go. Mirajane takes my arm and Levy takes the other. I count my blessings, I found two girls who truly seem willing to forgive me for taking their friends away from them.


	39. Chapter 39

In the bath Levy asks me about everything that happened. "I'm sorry to ask. I know how much it must hurt to think about it, but I need to know what kind of past you've had, and what kind of person you are. Call it closure."

I look at her for a moment before launching into the story. I tell her about my childhood, how I thrived in magic and combat training, but always managed to screw up in my family's eyes. "Now that I've thought about it, all the times I screwed up were times I did something benevolent." I grew up with a different set of morals and my parents tried hard to kill those morals. I told her about my brother's control magic. "he was never any good at fighting and he could never use the magic I could because he didn't have the capacity. The only caster magic he could use was shadow possession, and that was limited so he learned holder magic, control and manipulation magic. My parents encouraged him to use it to his advantage and make people work for him. I knew all about it, I just never thought he'd manipulate me like that.

"Eventually, when I turned 13 or 14, my brother gave me a charm he said he would use to help our parents like me better. He said I'd get their approval if I wore it and let him help me become better in their eyes. That's when my life started to blur in a lot of places. I would come out of jobs feeling foggy, and my brother said that was just a side effect. My parents finally started to show affection toward me, though I never knew what I'd done to deserve it, and I didn't care. I figured they would never do anything bad, or make me do anything bad, so what's the harm in letting my brother help me become a star in their eyes?" I laugh bitterly. "And then… when Erza killed him the spell broke all of the sudden and I saw -." I stop, hugging my knees to my chest.

"You don't need to continue," Levy says softly, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry," she says and looks as though she wants to hug me but she keeps her distance. It'd be weird considering we're both naked in a bath. "I thought for months that you were a monster, but the real monsters are your parents. I'm so sorry I ever blamed you."

I shake my head. "i shouldn't have been so foolish. I should have questioned why my parents liked me all of the sudden. I was too pleased to figure out what was happening. I should have run away like I wanted to when I was 12. I was going to find my own path, my own life away from them. I wanted to learn Celestial Magic and become the strongest Celestial Wizard out there. I should have done that…" I tell Mira and Levy bitterly.

"There's no turning back time," Mirajane tells me gently. "And there's no use in dwelliing on the past. All you can do now is put your best foot forward and make the future your own."

Levy nods. "That's right! You're free now to make your own choices and become the person you want to become!"

I don't know about that. I smile, "yeah, you're right! This bath felt great, shall we get going?"

The three of us dry off and dress in silence and then they lead me to the canal. I hold up Aquarius's key and call, "I call upon thee in the world of the Celestial! Pass through the gate! Open, Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"

She appears in the canal in front of me, a glamourous Mermaid with a water jug in her hands. When she catches sight of me she freezes.

"You," she says icily. "He was right, damn it," she grumbles. "What do you want?"

I feel my insides twist up at the look she's giving me and I bite my lip. "Aquarius, Hi. Uh, I need to ask you something."

"You better make it good!" she snaps at me.

"I need to know about Andromeda and Draco," I tell her quickly, squeezing my eyes shut and opening one to see her reacting. "Or Lucy and Natsu, as Fairy Tail tells me. Are they really one and the same?"

How much reassurance do I need? Am I really stil hoping that I'm not a murderer?

Aquarius glares at me before nodding stiffly. "I'm not allowed to talk about it." She says and vanishes, closing her own gate.

"Aquarius! Please wait!" I plead after her, holding out my hand to grab her. I get a handful of water instead and drop my hand. "She just left! Without even making a contract with me!"

I hold up the next key, furiously holding it out in front of me. "Open: Gate of the Lion, Leo!" I exclaim. "And he better not close his own gate like Aquarius just did!" I say to Levy and Mirajane, who are both sitting back and watching intently.

"If anyone will help you, it's Loke," Levy assures me.

"Leo," Mirajane corrects her.

"Oh yeah," Levy giggles. "I'm so used to Loke."

"Call me whichever you like, ladies," the lion spirit says cordially, appearing next to me. "It's been a while, hasn't it? You two are as beautiful as ever."

"Gray's still seething about what happened between you two at the funeral," Levy tells him, ignoring the flirtatious compliment.

"Can we not talk about funerals?" I ask her, grimacing.

"Sorry!" Levy says quickly.

Leo chuckles and faces me. "You have my key now?" he asks me, he looks like he disapproves, but he isn't lashing out like Aquarius did.

"Please don't just close your own gate like Aquarius. I really need to ask you about something," I tell him, putting my hands together, begging him.

"I can guess what it is and I'm not allowed to talk about it," Leo tells me.

"You have to help me get their memories back!" I exclaim, ignoring his warning. "it's not right that they can't remember the lives they left! Why'd you take them?"

"I didn't take anything," Leo snaps at me. "You're the one who killed Lucy and Natsu and we found a way to keep them around. The price was their human memory."

"So that means you stole their memories!" I retort. "They need them back! THey aren't Lucy and Natsu without them!"

"No, they aren't," leo says darkly. "They're Andromeda, spirit of the Princess, and Draco, spirit of the dragon. Why do you think they need their memories back?" Leo challanges me.

"They aren't the same without them! Memories and experiences make up personalities and without them, Draco and Andromeda can't perform as well as they might have before! They're only drive would be following orders. They'd be like robots if you left them like this!" I explain to him earnestly. "Yeah, they break orders to protect me, but that's not good enough for me! I only want them to fight alongside me if I'm doing the right thing, not just because I'm their Celestial Wizard."

Leo watches me for a moment before closing his gate and leaving me. "That bastard!" I shout angrily before he reappears in front of me with fabric in his hands.

"Put this on," he instructs me and I take the piece from his hands, seeing that it's a mini dress with thigh high socks. The outfit is a light blue color with green trimmings.

Mirajane and Levy cover me while I change. When I'm done they both stop and watch me as I approach a waiting Leo.

He takes my arm and the two of us vanish from Magnolia.


	40. Chapter 40

The Celestial Spirit World is bigger than I thought it would be. It's made up of several planets and platforms that go on as far as I can see.

I'm in the Celestial Spirit World! How am I breathing?

Leo lets go of my arm and looks at me intently. "Stay here until I call you," he instructs me. "I'm breaking every rule to do this, and I don't want to risk getting you hurt for it." He turns and walks away from me, leaving me to stand alone in this strange place.

A few minor spirits pass by, watching me curiously, though nobody interrogates me for being here. Maybe they know Leo brought me here for a purpose? I just hope I don't run into _them_ while I'm here. That would be awkward.

Who knows how they might feel about having their memories restored? They might not want it… but I know it's the right thing, and they'd appreciate it later.

Leo calls me after about twenty minutes. "Aki, come here."

I follow his voice and the path I recall him taking and come to an open platform and can't believe my eyes.

The Celestial Spirit King stands tall, all blue skin, huge white moustache, and glaring pupilless red eyes. Leo, Aquarius, and a few other powerful looking spirits stand in front of him, all facing me. There are a few other lower level spirits present, including Crux and Nikola, the two spirits Master Makarov gave me. Both of my Caelum spirits are here too.

"Human girl, why has Leo the Lion brought you to this place? It is forbidden for humans to come to this world without my consent."

I look at Leo, concerned. "Please, your grace, don't punish him for this. I'm glad he brought me because I have something really important to ask of you!" I tell the king, building the courage to face him without peeing my skirt.

"Speak, human girl. I will consider whether or not to heed your request."

I look up at him and take a deep breath. "I want you to restore the memories of Draco the Dragon and Andromeda the Princess. They used to be human mages, Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia and they don't remember a thing about it!"

"It is our procedure to convert human souls into Celestial Spirits. You challange the process I created?" he asks me curiously, his voice almost threatening.

I nod and slowly explain my reasoning to him. "And It's my fault they are dead in the first place and now I feel I have a chance to bring them back to their frieneds! Please you have to give them back their memories! It might lift some of this horrible guilt I'm feeling for killing two good hearted people!" By the end of my speech, I'm sobbing, despite my efforts to keep my cool.

The king is quiet for what feels like forever. I sniffle and wipe at my eyes, trying to stop blubbering in front of him. How's he going to take me seriously like this? When he finally does speak, he starts laughing at me.

"Heh," he chuckles. "I knew I was right about you."

"Huh?" I ask him, confused and a bit annoyed that he's laughing about this. "What do you mean, your grace?"

"Human girl, do you think I don't pay attention to the Celestial Wizards?" he asks me in response.

I think about that. "Well, you should… I mean, those wizards are people who contract your spirits to work for them. It makes sense you'd want to see those who your spirits work for to make sure they're safe. RIght?"

"Precisely," he tells me. "For example, one Karen Lilica was a disasterous Celestial Wizard, she treated Aries the Ram terribly. Since then I like to keep an eye on new wizards, and sometimes I will influence their path to make sure they'll be good to my dear friends."

I process that and shake my head, confuseed. "I don't understand. You're telling me you did something to influence my life?"

He nods. "How did you find Draco and Andromeda's keys?" he asks me.

"I… found them in a shop, the man behind the counter practically gave them to me, they were so cheap… You mean you put them there?" I ask him.

"And I knew you were planning to confront Fairy Tail about your brother's death. I knew that they'd help you see the truth behind your family and what you've been through. I also knew that if Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia didn't have their memories, it would drive you steadfast to this resolve to help them."

That hits me hard and I grit my teeth. "So you were manipulating the situation," I conclude darkly. I shake my head, rethinking all of this. He might have been manipulating the situation, but he was doing it out of love for his spirits. He was doing it tio help me become a better person and wizard. "So will you restore their memories?" I ask him, hopeful that he will.

He nods and I start bouncing on my heels, excited. "I will do it. Give it a few days in your world."

"Thank you so much!" I cheer happily. he gives me a smile and waves. The next thing I know, I'm back in the human world, Earthland.


	41. Chapter 41

When I look around to see I'm back in Magnolia Town, I start jumping up and down in excitement. "I did it, I did it!" I shout happily. People around me are giving me weird looks, but nobody seems too concerned to see some strange girl making a scene in public.

I look around to see Mirajane and Levy aren't nearby anymore. Maybe they'd gotten bored of waiting for me? They have my normal clothes… I need to find them so i can get them back and change out of this dress.

I turn in the direction of the Fairy Tail guild hall to tell them the good news, and see a boy a few years older than me, maybe 24? standing nearby, watching me.

"Oh, sorry!" I tell him and laugh. "Didn't mean to draw attention to myself. I just got some amazing news!"

"Oh, it's fine," he tells me and approaches me with a smile. "My name is Oliver. What's yours?"

I smile, "Aki Yoru. It's nice to meet you! I need to go now, so I'll see you around, Oliver! I go to move around him to go to Fairy Tail and sense it too late.

He's a mage, and his energy is very dark.

He grabs my wrist as I move past him and I lift my leg up to kick him away from me. he grabs it swiftly and pulls, putting me off balance and making me fall to the ground. "I used to conceal my magic power from others, but lately I don't see the point."

When I look up to glare at him, I notice we aren't in Magnolia anymore. "What have you done?" I bark at him, alarmed. I look around and my eyes widen in horror.

"Welcome," a woman's voice laughs from behind me.

I look behind me to see my mother standing there, grinning down at me with my father at her side.

"How do you like Oliver? We've taken up a apprentice since our daughter betrayed us," my father tells me.

"And he was so eager to join us. Apparently he's supposed to be some business hot shot, but he's not interested in going that path and decided he wanted to try magic," my mom tells me.

"Feuer, Jed, what would you like me to do now?" Oliver asks them,

"Just stand back so we can talk to our daughter," my mother instructs him.

I watch Oliver closely for a moment, searching for any signs of manipulation, but I can't find any. He's as cool as a cucumber, and smirking at me as if he's actually enjoying this. What a jerk. I turn back to my parents and stand up off the floor, watching them carefully.

"What did you bring me here for?" I ask them calmly.

"We're going to talk about what happened a month ago," says my father.

A month? i was only gone an hour, maybe two. I keep forgetting Celestial Spirit World time moves differently than Earthland time. My body tenses and I discreetly look around to form a plan of escape. "I see."

My parents are both blocking the door, and I don't know if I could outrun my mother if I tried to get around them. On the other hand, Oliver is standing to my left and behind me, and a window is to my right and behind me. If I can incapacitate him so he can't use his teleportation, I have a chance of getting to the window and jumping out. Then I could summon spirits to help me escape back to Magnolia.

I don't know exactly where this building is. It's a big mansion type, with lots of property around it, I can tell from the view out the window. There's bound to be a train station nearby, one that can take me back to Magnolia. The trick is to find the station and get on a train without my parents and Oliver following me. And then wouldn't the Fairy Tail Members help me? I'm on their side now, and I know Mirajane and Levy and Master Makarov know it, but what about the others?

It's now or never. I can't give them the oppertunity to strike me first. In one swift motion I spin and let purple flames stream out of my hands, forcing my parents back. I shoot flames at Oliver to send him flying into a glass table as I blast a hole through the window behind me. I sprint out of it and dive outside. I'm about three stories up. If I land properly, it shouldn't hurt much.

At just the right time I tuck and roll onto the ground, rolling onto my feet to keep running.

I reach out to my side and grab for my keys.

There's only one there, one that wasn't on the key ring for whatever reason.

I stop dead in my tracks and hold up Draco's key. Where did the others go?!

Oliver must have grabbed them when he teleported me here. Oh well. I can't worry about it now. I start running again to look for a train station.

If I can get away with Draco as back up, I can get back to Fairy Tail and they'll help me get my keys back. Hopefully.

I hold out Draco's key and summon him, still running. he appears next to me, keeping pace easily. "What're we running for?" he asks me.

"My parents are after me again. We have to get to Fairy Tail because you and I won't be able to handle them alone."

"Why? Can't you summon Andromeda or Leo?" he asks me swiftly, he looks behind us to see if we're really being persued.

"They stole the other keys. you're all I've got!" i tell him, my voice rising. I'm starting to get overhwelmed. "I need to find the train station!"

"Hey, we'll be fine!" he assures me, sensing my anxiety. "Don't freak out, okay? No point to it. I think I know where the train is, follow me!"

The two of us get to the train station using his astonishing sense of direction. How would he know where the train station is if he's never been here?

I pay for our tickets and pull him on board with me. "We should be fine for a while," i tell him. The train pulls out of the sstation and I look around for seats and spot an empty compartment and wave him forward so we can sit down.

"Oh, no," Draco groans from behind me. He's a green color and looks like he's -.

"You're motion sick!?" i exclaim incredulously. "That can't be possible! Celestial Spirits don't get sick like humans do!"

"Damn it," he groans in response.

I sigh, "guess you're a weird spirit," I mumble. He must have had bad motion sickness as a human. It is possible that his human weaknesses carried over with him?

The train ride goes on for the first half an hour with Draco puking his guts out out the window. Thankfully he transformed into his human form before we got on the train. I couldn't imagine the looks we'd get if he were still in his dragon form. About half way to Magnolia, the train comes to a screeching halt and send me tumbling head over heels across the compartment to land upside down in a seat.

"What's going on here?" I wonder, flipping myself over. Draco's regaining his composure and sniffing the air.

"They're here," he says suddenly and grabs my wrist. He throws me out the window just as my father appears in the compartment with Oliver. "You go ahead, Aki. I'll hold these guys off." he jumps out the window to draw my dad and Oliver outside so the passengers won't get caught in any crossfires.

"I'm counting on you, Draco!" I turn and start running toward Magnolia, crossing my fingers that he'll be okay.


	42. Chapter 42

**So this chapter is written in Natsu's point of view, and then it cuts to Aki, then back to Natsu.**

**Hope everyone is enjoying this story! I love reading reviews so keep those coming please!**

* * *

When Aki is a safe distance away, I start fighting against her father, while the other guy keeps his distance from us. It feels kind of weird to use my magic now; it's all the same kind of stuff, but the source of the magic is different, and there's a lot more control in the spells than I'm used to. Plus, I feel faster and more agile than I was before. It's a lot to get used to.

I recall the moment the Celestial Spirit King gave me back my memory. It was weird and it hurt a lot more than I thought it would. I only had it back for a few seconds before Aki called on me. I was watching Lucy get her memory back when Aki called, and I decided not to tell Aki anything just yet. I want to wait until Lucy has her memory back too.

I was really hoping Aki would be able to call Lucy and I out together, but without Lucy's key, Aki can't do that. What I need to do now is focus on getting rid of these clowns to get Aki's keys back for her, and so she'll be safe again.

Sure, I'm pissed off about what happened. Dying, seeing all my friends grieving over it, being turned into a Celestial Spirit and losing my human memory to do it, it all sucks royally, but I know it wasn't Aki's fault, and I know there's no one else to blame.

At least, after I put Aki's parents six feet under, there will be no one else to blame. Perfect way to let off this anger.

"Move aside, boy. We're not interested in you," Aki's father tells me coolly.

"You should be, I'm a pretty interesting guy," I retort and kick off from the ground, launching myself at him.

He's a venom magic user, and I know from experience his magic hurts upon contact. It burns in a whole different way than my fire does, and it spreads quickly. I need to make sure he doesn't hit me or I'll…just go back to the Celestial Spirit World.

I can't die. "Awesome, I don't need to hold back!"

"Talking to yourself?" Oliver asks from behind me.

I turn mid-jump and throw my fist at him, planning to set the bastard on fire. He vanishes again and I realize too late he's behind me again, drop kicking me so I plummet into the ground.

"No one else here worth talkin' to!" I tell him, taking the impact to the ground and shoot back up at him at lightning speed. I claw at him, sweeping him to the side, forcing him to crash into the train. I check to make sure the impact didn't hurt any civilians before going after Aki's dad, who's taken by surprise. It only takes me five minutes to take him out of the picture.

Aki Yoru sprints through the forest, nimbly avoiding branches, shrubs, unearthed roots, and the occasional woodland creature. She grins, hopeful and optimistic. "Nearly to Magnolia," she huffs.

"Not quite, dear," a woman's voice purrs from just ahead of Aki.

The girl skids to a halt, staring, horrified, into the eyes of her mother, who'd almost appeared out of nowhere.

"Mother," Aki breathes, calculating how she might possibly get out of this. Maybe Natsu has beaten her father and Oliver?

No, she can't just rely on him. Aki glares up at her mother, taking a fighting stance to defend herself. Without her keys, she'll have to rely on the skills she learned from her family. Though, Aki must admit that the last person she'd want to face is her mother. Her father or Oliver, she could take, but her mom is the one with the natural ability that Aki inherited.

Aki's mother makes the first move, which automatically doomed Aki. The first mistake she made was letting her mother strike first.

"And stay down, asshat," I growl at his crumpled, unconscious form.

Glancing about, I see Oliver is still unconscious. I grin, pleased with my quick work. The civilians are all standing around windows to watch me and I give them the thumbs up to start moving again after I pull Aki's dad and Oliver away from the train.

"Too bad I don't have anything to restrain these guys…" I mumble, watching them studeously. I know Aki's dad is good, he ain't moving for a long while, not with crushed and charred legs, but Oliver might be a problem if he wakes up. "Guess I could just immobilize him too," I conclude.

Some sensation of alarm courses through my mind and I look up suddenly. "Aki? She's in trouble," I realize quickly. "Geez, I need to get used to these spirit senses. It's kind of cool but it's weird," I grumble, heading off in her direction without dealing with Oliver. I can do that after I make sure Aki is safe again. Maybe her mom showed up? "I'm on my way, Aki!" I declare, sprinting full speed ahead. "It'd be nice if I had wings. That'd be convenient. Instead of going through these damn woods."

The forest is thick, making it hard to move in the form that I'm in now. I switch back to my human form so I can move faster, and manage to pick up my pace a lot before I hit a clearing. I'm about halfway to Magnolia; I recognize this part of the forest.

Out of the blue, I hit something hard, like a wall, and fly backwards, against what feels like another wall. I shake my head, jostling my brain back into place and look up, noticing characters lining up into view above me, they're like Freed's letter magic, whatever that's called… I could never remember exactly what everyone's magic is called. Especially him because I never worked with him a day in my life.

But here it is. I recall the time Laxus and his team tried to take over Fairy Tail, and Freed used his magic to keep gramps locked in the guild, and Gajeel and I were stuck with him for whatever dumb reason. Freed uses this magic to write rules that have to be followed before the barrier breaks.

I stand up and look at the characters, reading them aloud. "'Celestial Spirits and anyone with fire magic cannot pass through this barrier before five days is up.' What?! So that's me twice?! No way!"

I bang on the wall, determined to break down the wall to get to Aki. Clawing doesn't do anything, my flames just bounce off it it, kicking, punching, cussing at it, none of it works. Maybe I can get Aki's attention and she can send me back? Would that work? or I can just close my own gate, I'm pretty good at opening and closing it so that could work.

I concentrate for a second and try to force my gate closed so I'll go back to the Celestial Spirit world, but a dark energy is… blocking that skill i've built up. How?

I glare up at the words again and a new line has been added: Resisting the rule above will increase the number of days mentioned in the previous rule, one day per attempt. "This is bullshit," I exclaim, yelling at the words in front of me. I restrain myself from attacking the barrier again. I can't afford to be trapped in the human world for longer than the rules are already threatening. "Well hold on… five days plus…" I count on my fingers the number of attempts I've made, ending with trying to close my gate. "So… Thirteen days? Actually, i think I can handle that. My life force is good for at least two weeks, considering the non stop training I do. I'd have a day to get back before I die a second time. That'd be such a waste."

"You crashed into the barrier," a voice tells me from behind me. "Twice upon getting stuck in it. So at least fifteen days. And to be honest, I think you're overestimating yourself. Aren't you a newbie celestial spirit? You might have strength from will power, but that won't help you here."

I turn to face Oliver and a snarl rips from my throat. "You bastard."

"This magic, dark scriture, was a good choice for me to learn, wouldn't you say? I've always loved to write. I did it with Lucy a lot when we were kids. Did she tell you? The teleportation magic wasn't enough on its own, so I learned this stuff when I met Feuer and Jed."

"I don't care about your damn life's story," I snap at him.

He shrugs. "Like you have a choice right now. You're pretty stuck right now. Anyway, this isn't stated in the rules or anything, but this is a special kind of Dark Scriture magic, and the runes I cast have a special effect on Celestial Spirits," he tells me, his eyes dancing with glee. "The runes are kind of like a sponge. They absorb your energy as long as you're stuck in there. Your life force will be gone long, _long_ before fifteen days are up. I'd say you have a few hours at the most."

_Shit_. I grit my teeth, already feeling what he's talking about. I look ahead to where Aki is in danger, hoping for a miracle.


	43. Chapter 43

For a while I manage to keep up with my mother's movement, though after about ten minutes, she manages to catch me off guard again. She pummels me into the ground, crushing me into the earth and burning me all the while. I'm just thankful she doesn't have dad's venom accompanying her fire. That would be bad.

My mother jumps back to admire her work, laughing gleefully. "You might be the prodigy of this family, but you're just as breakable as the rest of the world. Your arrogance must have blinded you to that, little weed."

"I've never been an arrogant person. That would be you." I grit my teeth, glaring up at her through a slitted left eye. She'd blackened and busted the right eye, rendering it totally useless. I can feel the pressure building up in blood vessels in my head and I know she's disrupted most of them. My jaw is dislocated and broken painfully, along with my nose. My arms are shredded to ribbons from her long nails, clawing at them at her incredible speed. My legs aren't much better off. Overall, my whole body is charred. The burning sensation doesn't last long; sensitive nerve pain replaces it soon enough. I can't move, she's worked me over harder than I ever expected she could.

I had thought dad was the only one who could use brute strength. I'd always thought my mom was just speed and fire. She must have picked up a way to use her speed to her advantage to do more damage. I knew fighting her would be a disaster for me, but I never thought she'd be this powerful.

"And without those keys of yours, you can't call any backup," my mother simpers, feigning sorrow. "And let's face it, you could never have dreamed of touching me with that venomous fire that you killed those two fairies with."

"You won't win," I assure her, clenching my jaw and forcing myself to roll over and get back up to my feet. I ignore the last comment about Natsu and Lucy; she's just trying to antagonize me and I can't let her get me all worked up in the wrong ways. I need to focus on either escaping her or taking her down. But how? My legs are screaming for me to get back down, but I can't let this woman kill me. "I can't let you defeat me before I've had the chance to reunite Natsu and Lucy with their guild! It's the least I can do after Adam killed them." I exclaim, powering through the pain in my body.

My mom's grin fades and she holds her hand out, her fingers sparking at the tips. "_You_ murdered those wizards. Do not blame my son for your ignorance! Those two died by your hand, don't forget that. It's your fault my son is dead. What the hell are you doing to make that right, huh!?" She snarls. The sparks at the tips of her fingers grow and lash out at me, growing hotter and sharper with every impact. She's working up to a fatal blow, I can tell.

This is it.

She's going to kill me and there's nothing I can do to stop it. I'm too weak to fight back.

In a desperate attempt to defend myself, I jump back clumsily and spread my arms wide, letting purple flames flow out of my body toward her. If I can hit her just once, anywhere, I can slow her down and the blow would eventually kill her.

If only it'd be that simple, she easily dodges my attack and comes back at me, rocketing just inches away from me, and she drives her arm through my stomach, piercing through my body with my own technique.

"I learned how to do it while you were away with Adam and I perfected it after you killed him. I always wanted to try it out on you; I'm glad it's so effective," she purrs, her hand sticking out of my back. "Sure, I can't use your venom flames, but I doubt it'll matter in the end."

I gasp, feeling my insides oozing out around the spot where she'd impaled me with her arm. She laughs at the wide eyed shock on my face and starts moving her arm around to disturb the wound even more. I gasp and then clamp my mouth shut, refusing to give her the satisfaction of hearing me scream.

Though I can't hold it in for long. When she starts pulling her arm out, a bloodcurdling scream rips from my throat, radiating through the air. When her hand is out I fall instantly, clutching at my abdomen, desperate to hold myself together.

She's killed me. There's no way I can live through this.

A bright flash of lightning shoots over my head at my mother, followed by a flash of movement, too quick for me to see. I look up meagerly to see what's going on, and I see Laxus standing over me, staring coolly at my mother, his eyes hold an edge of fury in them. I can see Mirajane, or… some sort of demonic version of her, fighting my mother hand to hand.

"How dare you do such a reprehensible thing to your own daughter!" She's snarling. It's not even her voice. Is this the same sweet, gentle Mirajane who escorted me to Fairy Tail and took a bath with me? The same one who seemed willing to forgive me for what I did?

"Laxus, I'll take care of this abomination, you take that girl to the hospital. _Now_," Mirajane commands.

"You sure you got this, Mirajane?" he asks. At the same time as I start coughing up blood and my vision starts fading in and out.

"Go!" She barks, tearing into my defenseless mother.

Laxus does as he's told and takes me up in his arms roughly, using his arm to cover the hole my my back and using his hand to cover my front. He takes off running toward Magnolia just as I slip into unconsciousness.

* * *

**Seems like I end a lot of chapters with someone going unconscious... It's an easy place to end a chapter so whatever.**

**It's not looking so good for our little Dandelion, huh? or our dragon... hmmm...**

**You might call me twisted for saying this but I LOVE killing characters. Especially characters like Natsu. Guess I had this weird need to mortalize characters that seem so immortal. ****And a lot of my fanfiction is like that. I take characters and put them through some dark shit to experiment with how I think they'd react.**

**Ahh, whatever. Anyway, I hope you're all enjoying this! Blah blah blah... leave me reviews because I love reading them! Okay I'm done rambing.**


	44. Chapter 44

Oliver smirks down at me, pleased to see me sitting, defeated and weak inside his barrier. He hasn't moved since he showed up in front of me, He sits down just outside the barrier in front of me and pulls out a deck of playing cards. He starts setting it up between us, putting seven cards inside the barrier next to me and pulling seven cards of his own out of the deck. He places the deck between us, half way through the barrier.

"Go fish? I'm so bored," he tells me casually.

"I'll kill you," I mumble, grabbing the seven cards angrily.

"But you're going to play?" he asks me curiously.

"I'll kill you," I repeat, looking at my cards. "Got any sevens?"

A bone chilling scream pierces the air at that moment and I drop the cards, looking up sharply. It was Aki. I jump to my feet, pressing against the weakness I'm feeling.

Oliver looks up at me, his glance full of excitement. "Sounds like her mom was successful."

I growl deep in my throat and glare at him. The world around me starts spinning, despite how hard I'm trying to stay up, I fall to my knees, panting even though I don't need to breathe like humans do. "Damn it," I grumble.

"Looks like I'm about to succeed in my job too. Too bad. You were off to a good start in our game." he tosses a seven into the barrier. It lands at my feet and I stomp on it angrily. I feel my body start to dissolve, or whatever this sensation is, and Oliver starts laughing. "And look, I even get to watch you fade out and die. You gonna leave me something to remember you by or are you just gonna disappear without a trace? Bummer. It'll be hard to boast about this if I don't have anything to show for it."

"You talk too much," a rough voice roars. A rod of iron extends and sends Oliver flying into a tree. Gajeel flies past my field of view, the rod of iron extending from his arm shortening until he's inches from Oliver face, gripping his neck. "Let me fix that for ya," he says with a wicked grin.

"Gajeel!" I croak, watching in astonishment. Why's he here? He should be finding Aki, that's what's important now.

"Nat - I mean, Draco," Levy touches down to the ground in front of me, Pantherlily on her back. "Let me break this barrier. It's the reason you can't go back to your world, right?" she asks me, stepping into the barrier and looking up at the runes.

"Levy, you need to get Aki," I rasp, looking up at her, feeling my life force slipping away.

"She'll be fine. Mirajane and Laxus are taking care of her. Erza, Gray, Wendy, Carla, Max, and Cana are out and about, taking care of any loose ends Shut up and let me concentrate," Levy says sharply, reading the runes and raising her hand to rewrite them.

I watch her do her thing and sense the barrier's hold on me lift. I stand up, trembling. "I need to find her." I step outside of the barrier and Levy grabs onto my arm to stop me.

"Get your ass back to that damn spirit world before I send you back myself!" Gajeel snarls over his shoulder at me, still throttling Oliver, shoving metal rods through his arms and legs for good measure. He'd clamped Olivers arms and legs to the tree so he can't fight back. All he can do is choke, scream occasionally, and glare wildly around him. "Don't go dying on us a second damn time," Gajeel adds, a slight hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Go," Pantherlily agrees, transforming into his battle form to help Gajeel, though it doesn't look like he needs it.

I watch everyone for a moment and think about my next move. Seeing Levy's anxious wide eyes, Gajeel's usual anger, and Lily's concern, I can tell that I can trust them to take care of Aki. Whatever Aki had screamed for, they'll make sure that thing is taken care of.

I close my gate, finally, and go back to the Celestial Spirit World, where Lucy and Virgo are waiting for me.

"Natsu Dragneel, _Draco the Dragon_," Lucy roars, sounding angry. In her fairy form, she actually looks kind of scary when she's mad. "You have some explaining to do. What happened to you? I felt your gate was blocked for a few hours."

"I'm fine!" I tell her, sighing, feeling energy flowing back into my body. "Don't be worried about me. Aki's hurt pretty bad."

"You must take it easy, Draco," Virgo insists. "You were only there a few hours, but it looked as though if you'd stayed there a minute longer, you would have died."

"Yeah, probably," I admit, Lucy's eyes widening in alarm. I go into the full story of what happened and don't leave any details out. "And I don't think they know I remember everything. Levy called me Draco."

"Draco and Andromeda are your official names now," Virgo reminds me. "It's what they should call you."

"I don't want my friends calling me Draco," I respond stubbornly. "Never called Loke Leo before, didn't see the point in starting when I found out he was one of you."

Lucy nods her agreement and scowls. "I'm not strong enough yet to open my own gate or I would go back to make sure she's okay."

"I'll go," Loke offers, coming up behind her. "You make sure Draco gets his strength back." He vanishes from view then, going to see how things are going in the human world that I just left.

Lucy takes my hand and smiles at me. "I'm sure she's fine," she tells me.

I shake my head. "I fell for such a stupid trap. Next time I'll be more careful."

"I doubt you will be," Lucy giggles, closing the space between us. "You're too impulsive. It's one of the things I adore about you," she tells me and leans in to kiss me.

In the back of my mind, I pray Aki will be okay, and that Lucy and I will get to have that reunion with Fairy Tail that I've wanted since before Lucy and I even turned into spirits. Then I completely forget about everything and Lucy becomes my entire consciousness.


	45. Chapter 45

When I open my eyes, I find myself standing in a hospital corridor. I'm standing in front of the doors of an operating room and Laxus is sitting in a chair behind me. He regards me coolly and I grimace; it doesn't take me long to figure out that Aki is inside the operating room.

"I got her here as fast as I could," Laxus tells me, his tone broadcasting the concern he's trying to mask with that stone cold expression.

"Have you heard anything on her condition?" I ask him swiftly, wishing I could just go into the OR myself to see for myself, but I know hospital staff don't like it when outsiders barge in asking questions so I refrain from doing that.

"A bunch of her vital organs are messed up - either torn, punctured, or burned. The doctors are trying to keep them all from failing. Her ribs and spine are the worst of the bone damage, but she's busted up all over. Plus she's burned everywhere. They are dealing with everything in order of seriousness."

"What of her parents? and that kid that was helping them?" I ask, processing the information he gave me. I've heard of worse injuries, but still. This could be very serious if she's not healed immediately.

"Mirajane, Gajeel, and Levy are fighting and detaining those three. Everyone else is out making sure there aren't any other threats to take care of."

I nod, understanding. At least this will be over soon enough. All we need now is for Aki to make it through this alive and we'll all be able to get past this whole mess.

"Loke," Laxus says suddenly, I look over to him, waiting. He continues, "Natsu and Lucy, do they have their memories back yet? That's what Aki was doing when she went back to the Celestial World. So did she do it?"

I think about answering him, but decide against it. Lucy and Natsu probably want to be the ones to tell the whole guild that. I don't want to take this away from them. "Let's put all that aside for now until we find out how Aki's doing."

Laxus drops the subject and we sit in silence in the corridor, listening to the sounds of shoes squeaking on the floor, soft voices, and machines beeping harshly in the different rooms around us.

Nurses come in and out and tell Laxus and I how Aki's doing. They're keeping her heavily sedated to work on this and that, and eventually a nurse comes out to tell us she's stabilized. She'll be moved to a long term room and someone shows us to that room after she's already been moved in and settled. She's still asleep.

"Guess I can go back and tell everyone the good news," I tell Laxus, looking down at Aki.

"You do that," Laxus says, sounding indifferent.

Before I can go, Mavis, Erza, Gray, Cana, and Juvia come into the room, all telling me to stop. I lock eyes with Gray and regard him calmly, though I can see mixed emotions on his face.

"The sixth asked me to come check on her," Mavis tells Laxus, ignoring the rest of us. He mutters to her and explains Aki's condition.

"Where are they? Levy said Natsu was almost dead before she lifted the barrier," Erza snaps at me.

"And what about Lucy?" Cana demands.

"I found her, I mean I found Aki's keys," Juvia tells me, holding up the key ring. I feel something inside me relax. It's never good when a celestial wizard loses his or her keys, it means anyone could pick them up. I'm glad they made sure to find them before that could happen.

"What's going on, Loke?" Gray asks me evenly despite the obvious anxiety on his face.

"Natsu is fine. Lucy's taking care of him and he's regaining the strength he lost while trapped here," i start. "Lucy's fine too. I wasn't going to spoil the moment for them, but they've both got their memories back. I was going to wait and let them tell you themselves later but I'd rather ease your minds a little now."

"That's good news," Cana says, sounding relieved.

I nod and turn to Juvia. "Juvia, thank you for finding Aki's keys. She's going to be fine. She got hurt pretty badly, but the doctors fixed her up. All we can do now is wait and see what happens."

Juvia goes to sit in a chair right next to Aki's bed and she puts Aki's keys on the bedside table. She reaches over and takes Aki's hand in hers. "Gray and the others told me all about her. I really want her to wake up to friends. Her pain can end now."

I watch Erza and Cana go to sit with Juvia and smile, "I'm glad this all worked out."

"You knew back then," Gray says from behind me. "That Lucy and Natsu were going to become celestial spirits."

I turn to face him, studying his expression. "I did."

"You were at the funeral," he says drily. "Why didn't you just tell us?"

"What would that have done?" I ask him quickly, feeling myself getting flustered. "They wanted to watch, and they asked me to watch too, though I'd already planned on attending..."

Erza looks up at me, startled. "They were watching?"

"Why would I recite the farewell if they weren't there?" Mavis asks, regarding us for the first time. "I'm a ghost, I'm not stupid. I wouldn't recite the farewell to open air."

"First, you didn't tell us that!" Gray exclaims. He turns a little red, though I can't guess why. "Ah, jeez, he's gonna be a total prick about how I acted, I know it."

Oh. I chuckle, finding it reassuring that Gray's worried about something so ridiculous. It means Gray has healed. "Well I should go tell them Aki's going to be okay. I'll be in and out to check on everything. The others aren't quite strong enough yet to open their own gates, though Natsu will push himself to despite my warning. See you guys around."

When I get back to the celestial world I let Natsu and Lucy know that Aki is safe and recovering. I tell them an abridged version of all the injuries she got, and assure them three times that she's going to be fine and that she has her keys. "When she's well enough to, she can summon you two so you can see for yourself and no, Natsu, don't just open your own gate. You might think you're strong enough to, but you aren't. Just train in the mean time and be patient."

"Patience isn't one of his strong suits," Lucy points out with a grin.

"You're the one who's looked constipated for the past ten minutes trying to open your gate to get back to the human world to check on her," Natsu retorts.

"Hush, you," Lucy groans, elbowing him playfully.

"I will not be silenced!" Natsu declares.

"I see you have your energy back," I laugh. "But seriously, stay here and wait this out. It won't be long."

Reluctantly, they both agree to remain here train while we wait for Aki to wake up.

Capricorn, whose key still hasn't been picked up, swoops in and starts helping Lucy train, along with Virgo, who's also masterless. Natsu finds Taurus and Scorpio to train with and I go off to find Aries to spend some down time with her. Who knows how much of that we're going to get for a while?

The only members of the zodiac who have new contracts are Gemini, Sagittarius, and Cancer. From what they've told me, their new summoners are decent wizards and good to them. I'm glad they've found good new homes.

Pisces and Libra, are still contracted to Yukino, a rookie wizard who seems nice enough. As for Aquarius and I, we're contracted to Aki, and so far neither of us has had much of a chance to build a relationship with the girl. Taurus, Capricorn, Aries, Virgo, and Scorpio have yet to find new summoners. Maybe Aki will find their keys? It'll be fun to watch where they end up, though it's also a little nerve-wracking. Celestial mages like Lucy are one in a million, who knows how new wizards might treat their spirits? I'm always afraid a wizard like Karen might come along and treat one of my comrades poorly and I won't be able to do anything about it.

Though, the Celestial Spirit King has been keeping his eye on the new generation of celestial wizards. He'd tell me if he spots a bad egg among them and we can find a way to solve the problem like he did with Aki. Thankfully Aki was an easy case. All we really had to do was nudge her a bit and everything fell into place. At least, that's as far as the Celestial Spirit King is concerned.

I find myself feeling anxious to find out how the future will unfold for us. This is a period of change and I always welcome this kind of thing. Sure, this change was brought about negatively at first, but now that things have calmed down, I'm excited to see where things go from here.


	46. Chapter 46

**Gray's perspective**

* * *

Oliver and Aki's parents were rounded up at the Fairy Tail guild hall, where the army collected them to put them on trial for their crimes. Erza, Mirajane, Levy, and Master Makarov went to testify against them. Levy told the judges about Oliver's past with Lucy, how he'd tried to kidnap Lucy and force her to marry him. Erza talked about how Aki's family was involved in the weapons smuggling at the border months ago, where Adam had caused the deaths of two official guild members, which was a crime in itself. Mirajane and Master Makarov followed that up with their recollection of Aki's first fight with her parents and what she said and did afterward. Finally, Mirajane explained how she and Laxus saw Aki's mother run her through with her arm trying to kill her, and how they stepped in. Levy finished off by explaining how she and Gajeel had stopped Oliver from killing a celestial spirit, who happened to be one of the wizards killed at the border. Again, a crime in itself.

"I came home after I told them everything I know," Levy tells me in front of the guild hall a few days after everything went down with Aki and her family. "Mirajane and Erza should be on their way back here, too. Gray, how is everything here?"

"Aki's fine, if that's what you're wondering. She's up and going through therapy for all her injuries. Porlyusica even came to Magnolia to speed up her healng process," I tell Levy. "This way she can summon Natsu and Lucy sooner. It's about time."

"Is that all you care about?" Levy asks, frowning.

"Yeah, it is," I admit to her. "It's not like she's done anything to make me care about her well being. I just want my friends back. I'm pretty sure that's the only reason Mira and Laxus saved her, so it's not just me."

"Gray, that's not true," Mirajane cuts in from the gate. She's giving me a stern look and I'm worried she might hit me again. "Aki might have a long way to go before I'll ever truly trust her, before I stop resenting her for what she did, but I saved her because it was the right thing to do. You were the first one to figure it out, that her family was manipulating her into doing those horrible things, so I think you should understand why we had to protect her from those people. If we'd let her die, then there'd be no way for her to atone for her own actions and for her family's actions."

I shake my head. "Whatever. We'll see what happens now that all that crap was taken care of."

Erza looks around Mirajane at me. "Gray, would you like to go to Era yoursellf to speak with Oliver, Feuer, and Jed? You can see for yourself that they're well locked up and being punished and you can say whatever you need to say to those people who did all of this damage."

I shake my head. "I already said everything I wanted to say to them when we had 'em at the guild hall. Right now I just want that girl to get her magic energy back so she can summon Lucy and Natsu."

"She's awake, you said?" Levy asks me. I nod and she grins. "She probably won't be able to summon both of them, but we can see if she's strong enough to summon one of them."

Mirajane decides to stay behind in the guild hall to make sure everything is going smoothly. She's like the substitute master while Makarov is gone. Levy, Erza, and I head over to the hospital and find Aki's room. Wendy and Juvia are already sitting with her, and their talking stops when we walk in.

I look at Juvia and recall the conversation we had after she'd returned Aki's keys to ker.

_I'd caught up with her when she was walking toward the Fairy Hills building. "You called Aki a friend," I tell her, almost sharply._

_She turned to face me, her expression concerned, her cheeks flushed as they always are._

"_She is," Juvia had said. "You don't think so?"_

"_She killed our friends," I pointed out to her._

"_She was under a spell, following an order," Juvia countered._

"_She still killed them!" I'd roared. "I can't forgive her for it, not ever."_

"_But you could forgive me after what Phantom Lord did? You forgave Gajeel and he attacked three of your guild members. You forgave us for what we did when we came to you afterward.."_

"_This is so much bigger than that!" I'd retorted._

"_Not really. She did something horrible and when she found out about it, the first thing she did was she came back and apologized, promising to do everything in her power to make it right. And besides, they aren't gone like we thought they were! We can see them and reunite once she gets better! So everything can go back to normal, or normal enough..."_

"_I can't forgive her for this, even if they aren't dead anymore, they were still killed. Nothing can go back to normal even if you think it can. I won't forgive her."_

"_Natsu forgave you for putting him in a giant metal dragon," she pointed out quickly. "That nearly destroyed the city! Gray. you've made mistakes too! You need to give her the chance to make things right just like Master Makarov gave you the chance to make things right back then! Just like you all gave Gajeel and I the chance to prove ourselves! You need to give Aki that same chance!"_

And then she'd tried hugging me, but I pulled away from her and stormed off into the city to think. She'd been right, of course, but I didn't want to admit it to myself.

In the beginning, I'd been pissed at Aki, I'd wanted to kill her myself to avenge Natsu and Lucy, but I knew in my gut that wasn't the right thing to do. I knew I had to take care of everything else before I got my own closure.

Even now, looking at Aki, I have mixed feelings about her. Part of me wants to attack her, the other part of me knows there's no reason to. I know Juvia's right. I need to give Aki the chance to prove herself to me and the rest of the guild.

"Hi Levy! Hey Gray, Erza," Aki greets the three of us when we come in.

"How are you doing, girl?" Levy asks her, taking a seat at the end of her bed. "I have some news for you. Do you want to hear about how things are going in Era? We don't have to talk about that if you don't want to."

"I am curious about everything that happened in Era, and also, what happened after I left Natsu to fight Oliver and my dad? Nobody has told me anything about that yet," Aki tells her, almost desperately. "And Leo told me not to try summoning them because I don't have my strength back. I know something happened to him, I could feel something going on while we were apart, but I don't know what and it's driving me nuts."

"You should take it easy," Juvia points out to her. "Hearing distressful information could hinder the healing process."

"You're doing really well thanks to Porlyusica," Wendy tells Aki encouragingly. Of course she's being modest; Wendy has been in here every day doing her own healing when Carla isn't around to yell at her for it. "You're hardly swollen at all from all the bone damage. The doctor even told us you could leave tomorrow if you keep recovering the way you have been!"

"Aki," Erza begins sharply. "When you leave this hospital I'm going to take you to Era."

Aki's eyes widen in fear and I see her body tense up under her covers. Juvia squeezes her hand and looks up at Erza disapprovingly.

I shake my head. "Way to scare the girl half to death, Erza."

"Let me clarify," Erza says quickly. "You need to go to Era to recount everything that happened from your perspective so the judges can be 100% sure that what we've already told them is the truth. Besides, you will have the oppertunity to speak with them if there is anything you have to say to them."

Aki relaxes slightly but still gives us a wary look. "I don't know if I can face them."

"If you want," Juvia begins with a smile. Aki looks at her curiously. "I'll go with you."

Aki nods, "I'm so grateful that you've been helping me so much, Juvia!" Juvia smiles at her in return. Aki looks back up at Levy. "Erza can tell me everything that's going on in Era when we're on our way there. Please just tell me everything that happened with Natsu."

I glance over at Levy and she looks uncomfortable, like she doesn't know how she should tell Aki what happened. I take a seat against the wall and wait for her to start talking, because I want to see how Aki reacts to the story. No matter how Levy tells it, it's going to sound bad.

"Natsu fought your father and Oliver by the train and knocked them both out. Then he started running to catch up with you, That's what I've gathered from hearing Oliver and Jed tell their sides of the story and from what Loke's told me. Then Natsu ran into a trap set by Oliver just a few hours before he kidnapped you. Have you heard of Dark Scriture? It's a sort of letter magic that uses runes."

Aki nods. "I've read about it. The caster can create rules that people need to follow in order to get out of the barrier."

"Well Oliver's rules were that celestial spirits and beings who use fire magic couldn't pass through the barrier until five days passed. If the being inside the field tried breaking out, each attempt added a day. Furthermore, the runes Oliver used sucked life energy out of celestial beings. So Natsu wouldn't have survived those five days, let alone the extra days he added by fighting the barrier."

Aki's eyes widen and they start misting up. "I almost killed him again. He couldn't force his gate closed?"

"Celestial Spirits couldn't leave the barrier," Levy reminded Aki. "Natsu was… it's hard to describe it, but he was fading. Like phasing in and out like an astral projection. Gajeel and I found him just in time and Gajeel got Oliver away while I rewrote the runes to free Natsu. Gajeel and I had to beg him to go back to the Celestial Spirit World. We got there right after your mom stabbed you and he heard you scream and wanted to go help you."

Aki is silent for a few minutes and the rest of us watch her carefully, wondering what she's thinking. I know the whole thing shook me up when Levy first told me. I clear my throat, "I meant to ask sooner, but how did the visit to the celestial spirit world go? I know humans are hardly ever allowed to go there. We'd have to have the king's permission, right? Leo took you there without that, didn't he?"

Aki looks at me and grins, laughing nervously. "Leo was punished for that, though not severely. The rule that humans aren't allowed there is void now for special cases. Celestial Spirit Wizards are cleared to go there if it's important and the spirits run it by the king first. Leo didn't let the king know in advance, but the king understood the circumstances so Leo got off easy."

"Well that's good. I figured he'd be willing to break a few rules for Fairy Tail," I tell her.

"I'm glad he did that for you guys," Aki tells me. "I'm glad he trusted me enough to let me talk to the king." She yawns, wincing afterward. Even small motions like yawning hurt her, I can tell. She touches her jaw gingerly and scowls.

"Your healing is going really well, but you'll still feel pain. I'm sorry," Wendy says sadly, reaching out to Aki, her hand starts glowing and Aki sighs, relaxing into her pillow.

"She should rest now," Erza declares. "If she's going to be well enough to leave tomorrow, we should leave her alone until then."

I get up to my feet. "I agree. See you guys later." I wave before leaving the room.

"I'll be here tomorrow to see you home," Erza tells Aki before following me out.

"Home?" I hear Aki wonder.

"Don't worry about it and go to sleep!" Juvia tells Aki before rushing out of the room after Erza and I. She grabs my arm when she reaches me. I don't bother taking it away from her.

Levy says goodbye to Aki and catches up with us. I turn to face her. "What did Loke say about the house?" she asks me curiously.

I grin, "Loke said he'd be pissed if we didn't do it. I'd rather not piss off any dragons today. Even if it is just Natsu."

* * *

**I am so sorry it took so long for me to update.**

**busy June**

**I needed to make some changes and add some stuff**

**I got lazy. Oops.**

**Sooo... yeah. Sorry again. I have it done so I am going to add the last chapters and drabble some epilogue type stuff. If anyone has any ideas for something they want to see in the epilogue, feel free to tell me!**


	47. Chapter 47

**Levy's perspective**

* * *

The following day I wake up with a giddy sort of energy in my gut. Fairy Hills is quiet, as usual, and Erza's already sitting in my room, waiting for me to wake up and get ready.

I sit bolt upright in my bed and stare at her. "Do you always need to come in here to wait? Couldn't you just wait downstairs?" I ask her almost incredulously.

"Levy, I had to make sure you wouldn't sleep in and ruin our plans," Erza tells me swiftly. She holds up a basket of various breakfast foods. "Besides, I brought food. This way we can eat without wasting time in the dining room."

I sigh and jump out of bed, grabbing a small loaf of sweet bread from the basket on my way to my closet. I grab clean clothes and eat up the bread before going into the bathroom to take a quick shower and change into today's outfit. Erza holds out the basket to me again when I come out of my bathroom and I grab an orange. She pulls out an apple for herself and the two of us head out.

"So the house is all set, right?" I ask Erza. "Sorry I couldn't stick around last night to finish fixing it up!"

"It's all taken care of. There wasn't much to clean so that made it easier. Lucy must have cleaned it right before that… well, everything was dusty but that's about it."

"And you left everything as it was?" I ask her curiously.

"Since Aki's staying there and she can summon him whenever she wants, I felt it would be appropriate for them to go through things together so he can pick anything he wants her to keep," Erza explains to me. "Juvia looked through his room and found a ton of journals and books we figured he might want to hold on to."

"Whoa, Natsu had a lot of books?" I try to picture Natsu reading and come up blank. "I never saw him read more than a request flyer unless you count the time you taught him how."

"The books were all about magic and dragons. Gray looked through some of the journals and all of the entries were about training, jobs, and random thoughts about Fairy Tail and more specifically, Lucy."

"Wow, how invasive," I remark. Going through someone's personal journals, even if they're dead, is a major breach of friendship laws.

"We just had to make sure there wasn't anything too… revealing about Fairy Tail in any of them," Erza informs me and I stop walking to look at her questioningly.

"Erza, tell me. Are you only helping Aki out now because she can give us back Lucy and Natsu?" I ask her, almost sharply. It's Gray all over again. Are they all planning to use Aki to get to those two?

Erza looks back at me calmly. "Yes and no. Levy, you understtand completely, don't you? At this point it's not like I can call her a friend. I am going to give her a chance, but for now we still need to keep our guard up with her."

I think about that for a second and sigh. "I guess there's no changing your mind. Gray's kind of like that too, though he isn't good with words the way you are. Alright. I understand, and I'll admit that I agree with you. I just don't want her to detect any of it. I can tell she's delicate right now. if she senses distrust, she'll likely flee. And then we really won't see Lucy or Natsu again."

Erza nods. "Everyone is on the same page then. I sincerely hope she doesn't let us down."

At the hospital a nurse tells Erza and I to wait in a sitting room while they do some final tests on Aki and get her ready to leave. Wendy is at Fairy Hills sleeping after being awake far too long tending to Aki.

"That girl would tend to a whole fleet of wounded poisonous scorpions without giving it a second though," I speculate while waiting for Aki. "That is, if Carla wasn't around to tell her not to."

Erza nods her agreement just as Aki walks in with a doctor on her heels. He moves around her to speak to Erza. "She insists on walking despite her weak legs. Take her straight home to rest, please. It would be wise to avoid letting her take any jobs until that Sky Maiden gives her the all clear."

Erza smiles at the doctor and nods her head once in understanding. "We won't allow her to overdo it while she is recovering. Thank you, doctor, for all your help taking care of her."

I move to take Aki's arm gently and smile at her. "Ready to get out of here?" I ask her giddily. "We've got big plans! We'll stop at the guild to show everyone you're okay, and then we'll go to that bath house! And oh, I can't forget dinner and drinks!"

"I'd advise against any alcohol," the doctor says sternly, though I can tell he already knows it's out of his hands. We'll take care of Aki Fairy Tail style and he knows it. I could almost see his face turn a slight purple color when I mentioned the guild hall. he knows how often the building is destroyed thanks to our natural roudy behavior.

Erza and I herd Aki out of the hospital and we take her over to the guild hall so she can see everyone. Mostly she just apologizes for all of the trouble and nearly starts crying over the fact that she can't summon Lucy and Natsu for us yet.

"Leo told me not to until all of my energy is back. So tomorrow, I promise!" She'd assured us.

"Stop being such a crybaby and let's go take a bath!" I'd cheered and pushed Aki back out of the guild hall, Erza and Mirajane on my heels.


	48. Chapter 48

Still Levy's Perspective.

* * *

I thought Aki had looked too strong while we were out and about, in the guild hall and walking through the city. When she got into the bath she let out a breath and her tense shoulders instantly relaxed, like she'd been holding everything in.

"So I'm curious, Erza, you and Gray were out with some of the others while Levy and Gajeel were helping Natsu, and Mirajane and Laxus were helping me. Did you all find anything?" Aki asks Erza after everyone's settled in.

She nods. "I found the mansion, the residence of Oliver. I discovered bodies… he'd killed his family and staff in order to use that house for Jed and Feuer. I haven't mentioned it to you yet because it was quite unsettling… There was also a room that appeared to be designated for you. There were your diaries and books, along with some clothes that looked like they were for you."

"Oliver killed his family for mine?" Aki asks, her face going pale.

"That is the main crime that he is being tried for," Erza tells her.

"How horrible." Aki sinks down into the water.

"Anyway, they found all of your stuff," I tell her, trying to change the subject. "All your notebooks and a ton of other stuff."

"Notebooks?" Aki repeats thoughtfully. "Feuer must have read through them. That's how she learned my technique," Aki speculates. "or part of it. I wonder if she'd had dad, would she have been able to add the venom?" she wonders curiously.

"Let's not think about that and be glad she didn't have the venom," Mirajane tells her with a light laugh. I recall Mirajane telling us about her fight with Feuer. It didn't take Mira long to win, but she'd been so mad she couldn't think straight. in the end, Cana had to step in and stop her from killing Feuer altogether.

"Anyway, it looks like they were planning to hold you there for a while," Erza states.

"I wonder why?" Aki lifts her hand out of the water and watches the water create little rippling circles.

"It's possible they planned to use you again," Erza suggests.

Aki laughs one short bitter note. "That'd be my guess."

"Is there something they wanted that Adam couldn't do for them?" Mirajane asks Aki curiously.

"You did say cpmpared tp you he wasn't as talented a person, right?" I ask Aki.

Aki looks up at us and shakes her head. "I want you guys to understand something about my brother. It's not that he couldn't do things," Aki corrects her. "Well, I guess…" she pauses. "Adam had more potential than I did at one point. Of course, our parents didn't hate him the way they hated me. I think it's because I wasn't a planned child or I could've been illegitimate. I don't know. Adam didn't have to work nearly as hard as I had to so he didn't develop as well as I did. He was lazy. But, I suppose there is something he didn't finish that they might have wanted me to do. I have no clue. I don't know if I want to know, either."

"You can decide whether or not you want to ask them when we go to Era tomorrow," Erza tells her before getting out of the bath. "Time for dinner."

The four of us dry off and change back into our clothes. I braid Aki's hair back up and we head out to Natsu's house where Cana and the other girls are waiting for us. Aki has no idea where we're going and I can tell she's getting anxious about it.

I unwittingly let out a giggle when I see the expression on her face and she looks over at me frantically as we near the edge of Magnolia. When she realizes where we're going she stops walking. I look back at her, concerned. "You okay?" I ask her.

"Where are we going?" Aki asks quietly, her fist shaking.

"Don't ask questions if you already know the answer," Erza scolds her.

"He told us to do it," Mirajane tells Aki soothingly. "We were going to put you in an apartment in town but he insisted we give you his old house."

"He said he'd rather you have it instead of some random stranger," I inform Aki. "I had the idea to put you in an apartment and pay for it until you found work, but then Wendy suggested the house and Loke went to ask. Natsu gave his blessing and said if you don't accept he'll go on celestial spirit strike, which Loke said never worked for him. Natsu started complaining about something or another when Loke came back with his answer. Apparently Lucy liked the idea too." And I can just picture Lu-Chan making some kind of comment about how Aki would actually keep it clean unlike Natsu.

Aki's looking at us bleary eyed and shakes her head, wiping at the tears. "I can't get used to being treated like this. Especially by people I did harm to."

"You're going to have to get used to it!" I exclaim, taking Aki's arm. "And us! We aren't going anywhere, Aki. We're going to make sure you get a good start with this new life of yours."

I pull Aki forward and we all go inside of the house Aki'd been so freaked out to see. Cana, Wendy, Carla, Juvia, Lisanna, Evergreen, Laki, Bisca, and Kinana are all waiting inside the house. The first thing I smell is one big feast, different cooked meats, side dishes, salads, soup, beverages - alcoholic and non, desserts, and even a mess of candy. It makes my mouth water.

"If we don't start eating I'm going to start drooling," I declare and Lisanna laughs.

"Like Gajeel when he sniffs out some iron," Lisanna snickers.

"No way! Don't compare me to that big brute," I retort, my cheeks flaming. I'd been doing such a great job not thinking about him today, too.

"Let's eat!" Cana cheers and starts piling food onto her plate. "We bought all these nice dishes, time to break them in!"

"Natsu didn't already have dishes?" Aki asks her, taking a plate from Kinana graciously.

Cana laughs, "They were all either clipped, cracked, charred - he's the one person on this planet who could burn every dish he owned. Anyway none of them were safe so we went out and bought some cheap stuff. It's better than nothing!"

"And Asuka loved the target practice with the old dishes," Disca informed us. We all got a laugh at that. Asuka's already a skilled sniper and it's absolutely adorable.

Aki fills up her plate and goes to sit down at the dining table that Lisanna and Laki set up together. She looks around at everyone and smiles. "Thanks everyone, for trying to make me feel at home here."

I smile, taking a seat next to her. Juvia sits on her other side. "You're quite welcome," Juvia tells her with a smile. "I thought that bath was suppose to be relaxing," she adds, taking Aki's shoulder. "You're still so tense."

"Old habits die hard. I remember when I first met Natsu. I was pretty terrified. My parents taught me to be on my guard when I came across other wizards. That habit is hard to break, I guess."

"Natsu does look pretty intimidating sometimes," Juvia agrees. "Though when he smiles, and with that pink hair, usually he just looks like a big idiot."

"Gray's rubbing off on you," Lisanna scolds Juvia. "That was a mean thing to say."

"It is true, though," Cana defends Juvia. "Natsu only ever looks intimidating when he's 'all fired up,'" she says, laughing.

"There's a fire in my belly," Wendy giggles, making everyone crack up. Even Aki laughs at that one. I wonder if he'd said it at all in front of her. Of course, I can't ask her that.

Dinner passes smoothly, with Cana passing around drinks, Kinana, Lisanna, and Mirajane refilling plates to get rid of most of the food, and Wendy storing all of the left overs for Aki to eat through the week at the end of dinner. We all sit around in Aki's new living room and talk, telling Aki all about Natsu's memorabilia he has pinned up on the walls. Finally, she yawns and I show her to the bedroom we fixed up for her.

"We left Natsu's room alone, throwing some of his old junk he had scattered all over the room in there. You two can go through all of that to see what he wants you to keep."

"Once I get stronger maybe I can keep him and Lucy out for longer periods of time and it can be like they are really living here," Aki says wistfully.

I smile at thatthought. "Maybe. Just get some sleep. Erza and Juvia will pick you up for Era tomorrow morning."

She nods and goes into her room and looks around at the stuff Erza had retrieved for her. I turn to leave and find everyone else already left. I head out to Fairy Hills, feeling as though the day was a complete success. Nothing felt awkward or forced. Everyone might still be wary of her, myself included, but I feel liike we can all come to trust her soon if things keep up this way.

On the bridge approaching Fairy Hills, I spot a dark shadow in my peripheral vision. I look in that direction to find Gajeel looking at me.

"Oh, Gajeel," I greet him, surprised to see him. "Where's Lily?"

"He went on a solo job. What's going on with that Aki girl?"

I sigh, of course. "Don't tell me you hate her too."

"I don't like her that much," he admits.

"You don't like anybody that much," I recall. "She's fine. We went out, me, Mira, Erza, and Aki. Then the girls all met at Natsu's house because that's where AKi's staying. We're all finding out she's a perfectly nice girl and she's still tearing herself up over what happened, even if she won't say it. I hope you'll give her a chance."

He's silent for a moment, staring at me stoically. "She's going to Era tomorrow. We'll find out there where her loyalties lie."

"What do you mean?" I ask him, confused.

"There's a wizard there with empathy magic, he'll be able to tell how she's feeling. If she gives them a reason, they'll lock her up just like they locked up those three," Gajeel explains, referring to Oliver, Jed, and Feuer. "I say good riddance. She gets arrested she can't keep those keys, then Salamander and Blondie will go find better masters and we can all move on."

I stare at him, horrified. "That's the worst thing I've ever heard you say," I tell him quickly, feeling like I could slap him.

"It's the truth. They shouldn't have to take orders from the person who killed 'em. We shoudln't have to deal with her either."

i turn and start walking to Fairy Hills. "Go away, Gajeel."

"I'm just telling you the truth," he snaps at me and I clench my fist. Of course, hitting him would hurt me more than it would hurt him.

"Go away, Gajeel," I repeat through my teeth.

He's suggesting that Lucy and Natsu should just get new key holders, start fresh… And he's saying Aki deserves to be locked up for crimes she never meant to commit. Sometimes I forget how cold Gajeel can be.

* * *

**Geez, Gajeel can be such a grump. Mehh whatever.**


	49. Chapter 49

**Aki's perspective**

* * *

After Levy leaves the house, I roam around, getting a good look at my new home. It still feels weird to call this my house, considering it's supposed to be Natsu's.

After I'm satisfied that there aren't any hidden traps set up to kill me, I head into my room to go to bed. I find something new inside, something I hadn't expected to see. It looks like a stuffed animal? A cat with wings. I swear I've seen this thing before.

"It's _you_," it exclaims when he spots me coming in. "What are _you_ doing here?"

He's saying you the way one might say the words parasite, genocide, or plague. I stare at it blankly, trying to remember where I'd seen it before. it's an exceed, I know that much from seeing some of them around and reading about them. He's small and blue, and… he was with Natsu that first day I met him. He must be the co owner of this house. I remember his name from the sign Levy pointed out. Happy. Happy the Exceed who is Natsu's friend and… probably really angry with me for being here.

Crap.

"Happy, is it? I'm Aki. I know you must be confused about me being here…" I start but he steps closer to me and cuts me off.

"You think you can go and kill my best friends and then rub it in by coming back here?!" he demands of me. I back away from him, anxious he might actually attack me.

"If I could just explain… actually Natsu gave me permission to stay here. You can ask Juvia, or Erza. Or… any of them! I think they all knoq about it! And you would too if you'd been around… Where have you been?"

"Stop talking," Happy growls and steps closer to me. "Now you're trying to turn this into a joke? Telling me Natsu told you to live here… I won't tolerate this! Get out!"

I stare at him and straighten up. I have to do it. I have the energy for it… And it could just be for a few minutes. I grab for my keys at my side and hold out the gate key I need. "Open, the gate of the Dragon, Draco," I command and the key glows for a second before he appears next to me.

"Aki! Finally! I was about to force my gate open. Stupid Loke, bossing me around like he knows better than me. How are you?" Natsu talks quickly, looking around. "That's good, they moved you in here already? I hope they didn't ruin any of my stuff. They said you and me could go through it so we could decide what to keep. I wonder if Happy's been-" he wonders, just as his eyes fall on the blue exceed, his voice falters and he stops talking midsentence.

I step away from him and turn around so he can have a moment with Happy alone. Neither of them are saying anything yet, and I assume they're just waiting for me to get gone.

I go into the bathroom and busy myself with the mundane tasks of washing my face, brushing my hair, rebraiding it into a fishtail side braid, and brushing my teeth. When I come out Natsu and Happy are sitting together in the hallway, just talking quietly. Natsu looks up at me and Happy glances up apprehensively.

"I told him everything that happened," Natsu tells me. "And I told him this is your house now. He can either live here with you or find somewhere else."

"I'm going back to the guild hall tomorrow to say sorry for how I've been avoiding them. Maybe I can ask Gajeel and Lily if I can stay with them. Or maybe Gray will let me live with him," Happy babbles. "Aki, I know everything that happened but I'm not ready yet to accept you."

I nod in understanding. "I just wanted to show you that," I pause for a second, taking a breath to calm down. "that he's not… crap. I can't say he's not dead… but, he's here again. I don't know how to say it! He's here now, reincarnated after I killed him. Lucy, too. I'm not strong enough yet to summon them both at the same time! THis celestial magic is different than the magic I'm used to using." I babble on, feeling myself getting overwhelmed. What if I can't summon them both tomorrow? Will Fairy Tail just get mad and kick me out? Or tell the authorities in Era to arrest me for misleading them?

"Hey, calm down," Natsu instructs me. "Lucy said she'd help train you so you can use celestial spirit magic more. She said she could show you how to convert the raw magic energy you use for the fire and venom. Don't sweat it."

I nod meekly and look down at the floor. "It's going to take time, but I'll show you all that I'm better than what I was when I was with Adam."

Happy packs up some of his stuff and he leaves the house then, leaving Natsu and I standing in the hallway. He looks at me curiously for a moment. "Are you really okay?"

I nod once. "I'm getting there. I just…" Can't look at you without being flooded with guilt. "Can you go back now? I need to sleep. I'm going to Era tomorrow with Erza and Juvia and I need to sleep."

He looks at me for a moment before nodding once. "Aki, you know me and Lucy aren't mad at you, right? We get you didn't do it on purpose. The others at Fairy Tail know that too, don't they?"

I nod. "Everyone's been nice to me, mostly. Some people have been kind of avoiding me, but from what Levy and Juvia tell me, they're like tthat with everyone."

"Who, Gajeel and Laxus? Yeah they're two of the biggest jerks you'll meet," Natsu tells me. "Don't worry about them. When it comes down to it, they'll have your back."

He waves before leaving and I shuffle into my room, to the bed the girls had given me. They'd just given me the bed Lucy had in her apartment. I curl up into a ball and grope for sleep that never comes.

Finally, at around four in the morning, I jump out of bed, feeling antsy and energized with anxiety. I change into some comfortable clothes, a sleeveless green top that stops just above my bellybuttom, a brown miniskirt, and a pair of beige sandals. I heat up and eat some left over meat and head outside to explore the surrounding area.

The first place I end up is the field where I first met Natsu. I notice boulders with ropes tied around them, trees with scratches, impact craters, and words etched into the bark, and charred patches of grass and other plants. "I wonder what kind of training he did here," I wonder aloud to myself, examining the boulders. There are markings carved into them, numbers that mean nothing to me. "I'l have to ask him about it later." I decide before moving on to explore other areas.

I find a stream not too far away. There are two fishing poles propped up against a tree, partially concealed by some bushes. I smile at the image of Natsu fishing with Happy or Lucy. I wonder if these are their fishing rods or if they belong to someone else entirely? I don't touch them just in case they don't belong to Natsu.

As I wander around, I find various traces of Natsu: Shattered boulders, random burnt up foliage, and a bunch of trees with etched words and impact craters. I wonder if Natsu just went around punching things or if he only did that kind of thing when he was upset? One particular area loks as though a raging monster passed through. I can tell it was a Natsu-esque rampage because everything is charred. He must have been letting off quite a bit of steam.

I make my way back to the clearing where I find Erza and Juvia approaching the house. I look up to see the skies are well lit with a morning haze. Perfect timing.

"Good morning," I greet them as we meet in front of the house. "Erza, Juvia, how was your night?"

"I slept well," Erza responds.

"So did I," juvia smiles. "And you?"

I tell them about what happened with Happy and they both look at me blankly.

"he chooses now to show up?" Juvia asks angrily.

"He's always had a talent for drama," Erza sighs. "Well then, let's go to Era."


	50. Chapter 50

**Still Aki**

* * *

The three of us walk back into Magnolia where a car picks us up. "Master Makarov is already there, he's been there for quite a while handling various situations. He'll meet us before you speak with an official, and then we will all accompany you to see Jed and Feuer," Erza explains to me

"I understand," I tell her and the three of us remain silent for the rest of the ride to Era. think about what the experience will be like. I'm assuming the first part is going to be seriously terrifying. I've never had to testify or be questioned or… anything of the sort. I have no clue if I'm ready for something like this.

And then afterward, I know I'm not ready for that.

Oliver, sure. All I have to say to him is that he's a real bastard for killing his family and choosing to be a dark mage. I might kick him in the face for trying to kill Natsu, and then I'll punch him for what he did to Lucy, then I'll throw fire at him and tell him to rethink his life choices. Of course, I doubt I'll be allowed to do any of those things. The thought is a nice one so I play with it for a while before I move on to thinking about my parents.

My parents… I can't even organize my thoughts on that matter. I just know I don't want to cry in front of them. I need to hold my composure in front of them. Oh! Maybe I'll hug Erza or something. That would really piss them off. Though I don't know if Erza would especially like being hugged… Maybe I'll just tell Erza thanks for killing Adam in front of them. That would be enough… But then I need to make sure I tell them that I am officially done with them. As far as I'm concerned, they aren't my family anymore.

A hand on my shoulder snaps me out of my thoughts and I look up, startled, at Juvia, who's looking at me, concerned. "Are we there?" I ask her, looking out the window to see if we are.

We are. Erza's already stepped out of the car and Juvia's waiting for me to slide out so she can get out too. I slide out after Erza and look around warily at the men and women in uniform. Some are glancing at us suspiciously. One is watching me exclusively. Master Makarov is standing next to him waving cheerfully at us.

"Glad you could make it," he says to me as I approach him. Juvia's got her hand on my arm, reassuring me that everything will be fine. "How are you feeling, my dear?" he asks me.

"Oh, I feel fine. How are you, Master?" I ask him politely.

He waves me off. "I'm not your master," he tells me swiftly. "Let's go. you've got nothing to worry about."

I follow him and the uniformed man, Erza and Juvia follow behind me. We enter a building where I spot several frog people roaming around. Finally, we come to a room and Makarov stops just outside the door while the other man goes inside. Makarov looks back at me and motions for me to go inside without a word. Erza and Juvia stop behind me and I look back at them, concerned. Juvia smiles encouragingly and I go inside.

The questioning doesn't take long. There's the one official sitting one one side of the table, a man standing to the side, and two of those frog people standing by and witnessing. I'm asked everything Fairy Tail has already asked me, plus a few other questions about some specifics of my past.

Finally the man asks me what I plan to do now. I freeze, unsure.

"Well, I -" I pause and look down at the table. "I don't know for certain. I have a house in Magnolia, Natsu Dragneel's old house. He's one of my spirits now, as you know. Oliver tried to kill him? Yeah. Well, I'm staying in that house. I was thinking I would find a job in Magnolia to save money while I practice celestial magic and figure out what I wanna do next."

The official looks at me steadily before writing something down on a piece of paper. "Call Makarov in here," he orders one of the frog people.

In the next instant, Makarov is standing next to me, though at his height, I'm still taller than him even though I'm sitting. "You called?"

"What were you going to do about her?" the man asks swiftly.

"My plan was to invite her to join Fairy Tail so we could keep an eye on her growth and help her develop into an accomplished, independant, and good wizard. At this point, I have some concerns about her ability to function on her own and make decent choices."

I stare down at him, my jaw dropped. "Huh?" Oops. I didn't mean to say that out loud.

"It sounds to me like that's the best idea. She should belong to a proper guild. Though I do have my doubts that Fairy Tail is a suitable guild. You lot are so destructive. Perhaps a guild like Blue Pegasus would be more appropriate," the official offers.

"Joining a guild is not a court ordered sentence!" Makarov argues. "I only meant joining Fairy Tail could help her in ways only Fairy Tail can. It will not be decided by you what guid she joins. It will be decided by her."

The official sighs and looks at me, still speaking to Makarov, he says, "Well everything she told me matches up with what you and those girls told me."

"And she bears no ill emotions toward us. I only sense hostility when she was speaking of her family and Oliver. She passes my examination," the second man states. "She's genuine. At this point, I see no reason to punish her for her part in killing those two wizards. It looks like she's punishing herself enough for it."

"She's free to go," the official sitting across from me states, not looking up from his papers.

Makarov reaches out and pats my knee. "Let's go, Aki."

I stand up, bowing to the people in the room, even to the frog people, which seems to surprise them. I follow Makarov outside to where Juvia and Erza are waiting for us.

"How did it go?" Juvia asks me.

I shrug absently and look at Makarov. "You're going to invite me to join Fairy Tail?" I ask him, recalling what he'd just said in that room.

"Of course," Makarov says with a grin. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I can think of a few reasons," I tell him drily.

"Aki, Did I tell you how I joined Fairy Tail?" Juvia asks me curiously. "Well I kidnapped Lucy, and Gajeel destroyed the guild hall and attacked Team Shadow Gear, Levy and her team. After that I felt bad and… well," she pauses, turning a little red. "Well, I felt bad and asked the master if I could join after my old guild was disbanded. Gajeel came with me."

I process that and think about it. it sounds so weird to me. Those two hurt the guild in various ways and then the guild turned around and embraced them as their own? The concept is so foreign to me, I shake my head trying to understand it. If I'd hurt my parents in any way, they'd return that pain one hundred times over. forgivenness isn't something I'm familiar with. "That's great for you. I can tell that Fairy Tail has fully accepted you as one of their own, but I doubt many of them would embrace me the way they have you after all the trouble I've caused."

Juvia takes my arm and smiles reassuringly. "It'll take some time and effort, but I promise in time everyone will come to trust you."

"I'll think about it," I tell Master Makarov.

"Alright then," Erza interjects. "If we're done here, let's go to the detention center."


	51. Chapter 51

**Aki**

* * *

The detention center, as Erza called it, is a tall building separate from the building I was questioned in. We're not allowed into the room where all of the cells are, so we wait in a small room while a guard goes to get Oliver. We'll see him first and then my parents after him.

Oliver sits across from me with his hands bound by some kind of anti-magic substence. Erza and Juvia are standing behidn me while Makarov is sitting beside me. Oliver's watching me coolly, a hint of amusement in his gaze. The guards all left the room to give us privacy. They're guarding from outside, probably listening in.

I stand up and reach across the table, slapping Oliver across the face. "If we weren't being supervised," I whisper so only he, Erza, Juvia, and Makarov can hear me. "I would kill you for what you did to Natsu."

"What I did? That's funny considering you were the first one to kill him. When I heard the story it sounded like fun so I figured I'd give it a shot. You're an inspiration."

"It makes me sick that you'd choose to kill a person," I retort. "And It makes me sad too. You elected to be evil. Why would you do that? From what Lucy told me, you used to be such a nice guy."

He scowls at me. "She didn't know me at all. That idiot always lived in her own world and never once noticed me and how I was feeling."

"So you snapped?" I guess.

"I've never been very flexible," Oliver informs me.

I reach over and punch him this time. Erza reaches forward and puts a hand on my shoulder. I look back at her and she gives me a disapproving warning look. if I keep hitting him, we'll have to cut this visit short.

As if on queue, two frog guards come in and look at me apprehensively. "You're not allowed to assault the prisoners, miss," one of them says to me.

"My apologies," I respond with a smile. "You can take him away now. I'm done talking to him."

"The two guards look at each other uncertainly and approach Oliver to take him back to his cell. Another two guards bring in Jed and Feuer. I sit back down in my seat, my fury converted to apprehension and fear. A flash vision of my mother stabbing me with her arm crosses my mind and I shudder inadvertently. Feuer grins at me, telling me that she saw it.

"Hello, Dandelion," she greets me.

"Don't call me that," I snap at her. They're both always calling me a weed, a dried up, fuzzless dandelion. It's my hair and eyes that reminded someone of a dandelion years ago when I was kid. I thought it was a compliment at first; dandelions are so pretty and colorful when they first come up. Then you can make wishes with them when they grow up at get all white and fuzzy. My parents told me that it was an insult. That person had meant to call a neglected, forgotten weed. The thing a dandelion becomes if nobody makes a wish on it and all the fuzz just wilts off.

"You had something to say to us?" Feuer asks me, sounding bored and uninterested.

I purse my lips and gaze at her, wondering what I could say that would really get to her. She's spent my entire life deceiving and using me. Most of me wants her to suffer for it.

But I can't stoop to her level.

I think of asking about the room in the mansion that Erza mentioned. "Feuer, what was that room for? The one where my books and journals were?" I ask her.

"We were going to ask you to stay with us. Of course I figured that you wouldn't have stayed if we asked. Don't worry about it. Is there anything else you need to say to us?"

I shake my head and open my mouthto speak. "Just that I don't understand what your motives were all those years. Can you fill me in?"

"She looks at me thoughtfully before responding. "Have I ever told you how I grew up? How I belonged to a guild as a kid?"

I shake my head. "You never talked about your past with me."

"Jed and I, we belonged to a guild together." Feuer begins explaining, "It was called Phoenix Wing."

"The guild that was destroyed years ago?" Master Makarov cuts in. "That guild was obliterated twenty years ago, all of its members and the master were all killed. I didn't think there were any survivors."

Jed grins at him. "Someone had to do the killing, didn't they?"

"Why did you two destroy your old guild?" I ask them quickly, before Makarov or the others can react to Jed's confession.

"That guild was once strong, revered, and even feared, once upon a time," Feuer states. "And took pride in that."

"We were some of the strongest wizards around. Our master never looked at it that way though. We could never do anything to please her," Jed continues slowly. "and a lot of the other wizards were like that too - arrogant, judgmental, and greedy. They called themselves good, but to the core they were all rotten."

"And you weren't?" I challenge him.

Feuer shakes her head. "Jed and I were both idealist. We thought the world could be a happy, peaceful place, and we thought it was the duty of guild wizards to lead by example. Our guild mates never liked our ideas. They thought we were all fools. One day someone said something to me that pushed me over the edge. I don't remember what it was he said to me. I snapped and Jed followed me in action against them. He never liked the guild we belonged to anyway."

Jed speaks up again. "We killed all of them with the flame and poison combination we were best at. It was during a guild meeting and everyone was present in the guild hall. It wasn't hard to hit the few strongest members first and set ablaze the building to get everyone else. At that time my poison could spread in a gas form, so nobody made it out of that one alive. Feuer and I escape before the authorities arrived and nobody ever suspected either of us in the murder. They all thought we'd been burned alive with the rest of them."

"And that's why you hate all guilds?"I ask them after letting the story sink in. I can't picture either of them dreaming of a better world. I can only envision their faces twisted in wicked laughter and malice.

"It sounds like you belonged to the wrong guild," Juvia remarks from behind me.

Feuer and Jed ignore her. Feuer speaks on. "After that the two of us hid for a while and someone came across our hiding spot. He had telepathy magic, could read our minds and memories. He laughed at us for our outburst against Phoenix Wing and told us all official guilds were like that. We shouldn't bother killing them all because no matter how many we kill there will always be more that pop up. He said we'd be better off just looking after ourselves and forget about the official guilds. So that's what we did."

I hold up my hand. "Tragic. I can guess everything that happened after that. Now I just feel sorry for you both. I can imagine hundreds of other things you could have done to achieve that original goal of peace, but you chose selfishness and cruelty instead."

"We don't want your pity," Jed snaps at me.

"I pity you. You've seen first hand how evil guilds can be. That girl murdered your brother right in front of your eyes. Of course you allowed her to do it, but it still must have been traumatic," Feuer says to me.

"I've seen how benevolent guilds can be. You've seen how cruel guilds can be and you chose walk the path of murder and then you just ran away." I shake my head. "That's where you're wrong. I've more than forgiven Erza for killing Adam. I know in time they'll forgive me. I sincerely regret what I've done and I'm going to make things right. Master Makarov has invited me to join Fairy Tail and I am going to. They can help me make the right choices so I don't end up like you. Phoenix Wing might have been an arrogant and cold guild, but Fairy Tail is a family that I will gladly join. They've already shown me more kindness in these past few days than you've shown me in my entire life. I came here today to say goodbye to you two. Good riddance."


	52. Chapter 52

**Aki.**

* * *

"Open, Gate of the Dragon: Draco! Open, Gate of the Princess: Andromeda! Natsu and Lucy, Fairy Tail is waiting for you!"

In a flash of red light, Natsu appears beside me in his human form. He glances around to make sure everything is copecetic and grins widely at his friends. "S'up, guys?"

Lucy appears beside him, also in human form, and smiles happily, tackling Levy with a hug. "I missed you guys!"

After telling Feuer and Jed I'd be joiniing Fairy Tail, Feuer lashed out at me. The guards took them back to their cells and our visit was officially over. Erza, Juvia, Master Makarov, and I all went back to Magnolia and we arrived in the guild hall in the early evening. First I had a drink to calm my nerves, and then I pulled out the dragon and princess gate keys.

So now all hell is breaking loose. Cana's calling out for booze, Mirajane and Kinana are passing out food, and Lucy and Natsu are both at the center of a great big group hug initiated by Elfman. "Reunions are manly!"

"Aki!" Lucy calls me from across the hall. I look up at her to see her transform into her fairy form and jump up into the air to fly over to me. She hugs me around the neck and grins. "This is your party too! Come on!" She grabs my hand and pulls me over to the group, beside Natsu. He's watching me thoughtfully and I feel myself cringing, wondering what he could be thinking.

"Natsu," I say softly. I look at Lucy. "Lucy, I need to tell you. I know I've said this a million times before, and I'll probably say it a million times more… I'm so sorry."

"Why?" Natsu asks me, looking surprised. "Aki, you know how cool this is, right? Being a Celestial Spirit rocks."

"You would think it's cool," Wendy giggles.

"That's Natsu for you," Mirajane remarks, beaming. "Mr. Brightside."

"I can look for Igneel like this," Natsu continues. "And I'm stronger than I was before,and I have fewer limits than I had as a human. I'm actually a dragon now!"

"Not really," Gray counters. "You look more like a lizard or an actual Salamander."

Natsu grins and transforms into his dragon form, sprouting wings of flame from his back. "I just figured out how to use the wings. Still think I just look like a lizard?"

"Flame off, dumbass. The only way I see it is now you can destroy this guild hall easier than you could before!" Gray snaps at him.

"You're just jealous you don't have a cool badass form like I do," Natsu taunts his friend, transforming back to his human form.

"Anyway," Lucy interjects pointedly and looks at me. "Aki, we aren't mad or anything. We're both just glad you're safe now and you have the chance to live your own life."

"I wouldn't have let you use my house if I didn't like you," Natsu adds.

I chuckle, relieved. "That reminds me, Natsu. I need your help to fix things up. I want to clean up but I don't want to throw anything important away. It's still your house, so I want to leave things the way you had them before the others shoved all your stuff into your bedroom. If Happy forgives me, he can help too so I don't accidentally throw anything he likes away."

"Wait, they didn't throw anything away already did they?" Natsu asks me, eyeing Erza and Mirajane suspiciously.

"Rubble and trash are not important things," Erza tells him.

"We kept all of your request flyers and mementos, but anything noticeably toxic, I destroyed myself," Mirajane adds. "Do you have a problem with that, Natsu?" she challenges him.

"Guess not," Natsu responds quickly, though he doesn't seem thrilled that the others went through his stuff.

"Wait," Lucy says, looking at Levy. "Did you guys go through my apartment and stuff?"

"I've read all of your stories and even had some of them published. They were so good!" Levy says enthusiastically. "I hope you aren't mad. Are you?" She inquires warily.

Lucy sighs. "I guess not. You really thought my writing was good?"she asks.

"A ton of people love it," Levy assures her.

Just then, I see him. He's floating at the door and staring past me at Natsu, who isn't paying attention. He's staring at Lucy, chuckling at her embarrassment at the compliment she'd just received. I nudge Natsu to get his attention and look back at Happy almost anxiously. I have no clue how Happy is going to act toward me.

"Hey, buddy!" Natsu greets Happy cheerfully.

"Happy! How've you been?" Lucy asks with a grin.

"A lot better now that you're back, Lucy!" Happy declares and flies over to her to hug her. He looks back at his guild mates and twiddles his thumbs nervously. "Im sorry for how I acted after… you know. It was dumb of me to act like such a jerk and I don't wanna be like that anymore."

"Forget about it," Macao tells Happy. "We all acted poorly. Let's just put all that behind us."

"I don't mean to sound like a broken record," I pipe up. "But -."

"Say it again and I will kick you," Levy threatens me. I can't tell if she's being serious or not. I won't take any chances. "Macao just said to forget about it so that means you too!"

"Let's nobody kick anyone, now," Mirajane laughs and approaches me with a magic stamp. "Where do you want it, Aki?"

I think about that and point to my right forearm. "On my right arm. THe inside of my forearm."

She takes my right arm and turns it over so the inside of my arm is facing up. She presses the stamp into my skin and when the stamp comes up, a coral, pinky orange colored Fairy Tail insignia appears, fresh and bright. "Welcome to Fairy Tail."

"Hey, Mira! While you're at it," Natsu pauses and points to his right shoulder. There's no Fairy Tail mark there now. I can't believe that I forgot it used to be there, a red one.

Lucy holds up her right hand. "the King removed them when he made us spirits. Could you put them back?"

Mirajane looks at Natsu bare shoulder and Lucy's bare hand and nods. "I'd be honored."

"Hey," Happy interrupts. "Can you guys explain everything that happened again? Natsu told me some stuff but I still don't get it."

So they do. I mostly just stay quiet and listen to their retelling of my story. I'm surprised more than once at how they speak of me and how angry they get talking about my family and Oliver. Levy starts talking about the part where she and Gajeel found Natsu trapped in a barrier. My eyes shift floorward and I grimace.

"And I wasn't there to stop it," I murmur bitterly. "I almost got him killed a second time."

"You were busy doing your own dying," Natsu counters.

"Yeah you were pretty bad off when I found you," Laxus agrees with him.

"You're doing that thing where you blame yourself for everything," Cana scolds me.

"I wasn't kidding," Levy warns me, wagging her finger at me. "I'll kick you if you do that."

"So she did it because she was being brainwashed?" Happy concludes, watching me cautiously, as if he still can't trust me. "And you're telliing me those people are all in Era now? So they can't do it anymore?"

"That's right," Master Makarov confirms.

"And she's going to live in our house," Natsu tells Happy. "I offered the house because she won't have to pay rent or anything like she would if she took Lucy's old apartment or went to Fairy Hills."

Happy grimaces. "I want to come back to the guild full time but I can't be in the same house as her. Not yet."

"Hey, Gajeel! Let Happy stay with you!" Natsu orders the dark haired dragon slayer.

Gajeel glares at natsu. "Since when do you think you can boss me around, Salamander?!"

"Just do it!" Natsu retorts, butting heads with him.

"He can ask me himself!" Gajeel barks back.

"I wouldn't mind if he stayed with us," Pantherlily declares. "We do have plenty of space."

"I would really appreciate it. I'll help pay for food," Happy tells Gajeel.

"Yeah, yeah. Fine," Gajeel grumbles and goes over to the bar so Kinana can hand him a beer.

"Now that that's settled, can we get back to the party?" Natsu asks, sounding annoyed. "You people are such a drag lately."

"What an inconsiderate comment," Lisanna scolds him.

"You're such a dick," Gray retorts.

"Bite me!" Natsu snaps.

Thus ensues a guild brawl. Lucy pulls me away from the fray and we watch from the second floor with Wendy, Levy, and Carla.

"Get used to this," Levy tells me with a laugh. "Welcome to Fairy Tail, Aki!"

"Maybe if I start training I can actually join in on these brawls. Looks like a healthy way to let off some steam," I observe.

"You need to train spiritually and physically," Lucy states. "I can help you spiritually."

Natsu, who I didn't think was listening, launches himself up onto the second floor next to us, abandoning the brawl. "Wanna see my training regimen? I used to train in the forest by my house."

"I saw that. It looks like youjust went around punches things at random," I tell him with a laugh.

"Sorta," he grins.

I look from him to Lucy and feel a smile spread across my lips. "You two are amazing," I tell them, feeling so happy I might explode. Things have worked out better than I ever thought they would. I have two amazing friends and partners, I've found amazing friends in Fairy Tail, and my life is my own for the first time." I bounce from foot to foot, barely containing my joy. "I'm so happy I could cry! I can't believe how things have changed for me!" I gush.


	53. Chapter 53

**Aki's perspective.**

* * *

"Aki, you seem to have a lot of your strength back, if you can hold Lucy and Natsu here for so long," Levy tells me after the brawl dies down and we're back downstairs with everyone.

I think about it and shake my head. "It's weird, I thought I'd only be able to keep them here for a few hours, but I don't even feel a little drained."

"I've been using my own magic to prolong my stay and so has Natsu," Lucy informs me. "I've been making him sit down and focus on spiritual training with me so he's building up his spiritual stamina. In return, he takes the lead with the combat training."

"Sounds like you two balance each other out completely." I remark.

She nods and smiles softly, looking down at the table. "I think so too."

"Lu-chan," Levy cuts in, grinning mischievously. "What's the story on our NaLu? You can't tell me you two stopped seeing each other or anything."

Lucy looks up, startled. "NaLu? What the hell is that?"

"Your couple name, silly!" Levy giggles.

Lucy looks around, making sure Natsu isn't around. She brings her head forward and responds, "so what, you and Gajeel are Leveel? GaLe? Or Ooh! Gajevy!?"

Levy turns red and Lisanna snickers behind her hand. "My personal favorite for them is Gajevy," she says and Wendy nods her agreement.

"What's Gray and Juvia's couple name?" Juvia asks, her eyes intensely curious.

"Uh," Lisanna puts her index finger to her mouth and thinks for a second. "Gruvia?"

Juvia looks ecstatic at that, and she goes all starry eyed thinking about it. I laugh at how cute her crush is. I wonder when she'll ever act on it.

"So, Lucy?" Levy prods, determined to get things back on track.

Lucy sighs. "Fine, if you have to know… We're still together, I guess. Scorpio has been cool and showed us some nice places to go together when we aren't training or here. It's been a little weird, adjusting to things, so we haven't done a lot of stuff as a couple. But, Yes, Levy, our feelings for each other never changed, even when we didn't have our memories."

Levy beams at that, "wonderful! I was kind of worried. Anyway, it's great! Now you can be together forever!"

Lucy laughs and smiles, though I see a hint of bitterness in it. "I'm happy about that, for sure. I'm just a little sad that we can't get married or have kids in the future. It's something I was looking forward to with him, if we ever got to that point in our relationship, I mean."

"Who says we can't get married?" Natsu asks from behind us. I look back at him to see him looking down at Lucy, his expression completely serious. Lucy turns around in her seat to look up at him.

"It's a bit unconventional," someone else says, the voice is coming from my left. I look to see Loke standing, watching us with a grin on his face. "But I don't think there are any rules against spirits marrying each other."

"So are all of my spirits here on their own magic, or?" I ask him, looking around for Aquarius.

"She's on a date," Loke tells me, guessing my actions. "or she'd be here too. And yes. I hope that's okay with you, Beautiful."

"So, Lucy, are there wedding bells in your future?" Levy asks, almost giddy.

"Lucy looks up at Natsu, "are there?" she asks him.

He looks at her for a second, his face unreadable. Lucy's eyes flicker and her smile fades a little. Sudden;y, Natsu is down on one knee. "God, this feels corny," Natsu states.

Lucy laughs, "then don't do it! You look so lame doing that." she teases him and grabs his hand, pulling him toward her. They embrace and I grab Levy, overwhelmed by the situation. She squeals giddily and embraces me.

"I know it's a little fast," Natsu tells Lucy softly. "But why wait? We've both got all the time in the world, and I want to spend every second being married to you."

"Jeez, sappy much?" Gray asks. I look around to see a small group formed around our table.

"Shut up, man," Natsu snaps back at him, not looking at him.

"It was pretty sappy," Lucy giggles.

"Look, he's embarrassed," Laki giggles. "Look at how red his face is."

"You all suck," Natsu states.

Everyone laughs and Lucy reaches up and kisses Natsu on the mouth, regaining his attention.

"We have some planning to do!" Levy tells me quickly, grabbing me and Erza by the arms. She pulls the two of us away from the group. "Wendy, bring Lucy in when she's done making out with Natsu!" Levy calls over her shoulder.

* * *

**I hope you guys like this. I was kind of hard because I was trying to think of how this would actually happen, and I couldn't really picture it happening at all because they're both so clueless about this kind of thing...**

**but I wanted it to happen because NALU FOREVER AND EVER BEETCHESSSS**

**So yeah. I'm super nervous about the next few chapters. My beta reader has left me FOREVER (a Week) and she's not here to make sure this doesn't suck, so forgive me if this sucks. it's all her fault. :P**


	54. Chapter 54

**Aki's Perspective.**

* * *

Just a week later I'm squirming uncomfortably in a light blue knee length dress, staring into a mirror while Evergreen does my hair and makeup.

"Aki, dear," Evergreen says sweetly. "Stop fidgeting!" she instructs me for the third time.

"Sorry!" I tell her guiltily, "I've never done this before."

"You've never had your hair done?"

"Or been a bride's maid or worn such a nice dress or been to a wedding… I've seen them in magazines and read them in books, but I've never been to one."

"So are you a nervous talker?" Evergreen asks me curiously.

"Can you tell?"

"Stop fidgeting!"

"Oh, take it easy on her," Mirajane scolds Evergreen. "She's nervous."

Evergreen puts the finishing touches on my makeup and stands back to admire her work. "Don't tug at your hair," she instructs me. "and don't eat or drink anything until tonight at dinner. You'll ruin your makeup if you do."

I look at my reflection in the mirror. Evergreen curled my hair with some kind of magic hair product, and twisted it up into an elegant half up, half down hair style. She did something similar for Levy, Juvia, Mirajane, and Erza. All of our makeup matches too. She beams at all of us, proud of her work.

"Lucy, you're next!" She calls and pulls me to my feet. Lucy smiles as she slides into the seat after me and Evergreen starts in on her hair.

"Aki, can you go check to make sure everything is ready out front?" Levy asks me. As maid of honor and head wedding planner, she's taken it upon herself to ensure that everything is running smoothly.

I nod my head and slip my shoes on to leave the dressing room. I run into Makarov on his way to the dressing room to check on the girls. He looks very nice in a deep black suit.

"It'll be a few minutes," i tell him on my way toward the front of the church.

When I get there, I peek into the room to check on everything. Natsu is standing at the altar, looking nervous and fidgety. How lucky; he's allowed to fidget because he doesn't have stupid makeup or hairclips in.

He looks very handsome in a black suit paired with, of course, his white scarf. I look around to see all of the guests seated and waiting for things to get started. The church is a bit small to fit everyone who showed up: Everyone from Fairy Tail, some people from other guilds, and a ton of other people I don't recognize at all. It's a full house. I even spot Leo sitting with a group of other spirits near a fountain in the back. Aquarius is sitting in the water, talking enthusiastically with her boyfriend Scorpio. Leo is talking with a purple haired spirit called Virgo and a pink haired spirit called Aries.

My eyes sweep over the church again and meet Natsu's eyes. He's looking right at me curiously, almost anxiously. I give him a thumbs up before I go back to the dressing room where Evergreen is helping Lucy into her dress. Master Makarov is waiting outside the door.

When Lucy is all set and ready, Evergreen makes some very slight adjustments to dresses, makeup, and hair before leaving to go find a seat with Bickslow and Freed. Makarov is using his giant magic to make himself taller, so Lucy's able to fit her arm neatly into his as he escorts her.

We meet up with the best man, Gray, and the groomsmen, Elfman, Gajeel, Laxus, and a man I'd never met called Jellal. We all line up the way we're meant to, Gray and Levy, Laxus and Mirajane, Gajeel and Juvia, Jellal and Erza, and Elfman and I. Happy is the ring bearer, Asuka is the flower girl, and of course, Master Makarov is standing in for Lucy's real father.

The music begins and I take a deep breath, getting ready to start walking. in order, Mirajane and Laxus are the first to go. Gajeel and Juvia follow them, Erza and Jellal go next, and Elfman and I are last of the groomsmen and bride's maids. Gray and Levy follow Elfman and I. We all walk the straight line to the altar. As rehersed, I part from Elfman at the altar and stand beside Erza. Levy comes up beside me and we all stand, eyes trained on the door we just came from.

The music changes then, slightly as Happy walks in. he's got an adorable little black suit on, with a small bunch of blue roses pinned to the front of his coat. He's carrying the rings and trying hard to stay focused on his part in all this. Asuka follows him out, tossing handfuls of flowers out in front of her, smiling happily as she does so. She's so adorable, I can hear little "awws" and "oohs," as she passes. Bisca and Alzack are beaming from their seats.

And finally Lucy and Master Makarov walk in behind Asuka.

Lucy's dress is pretty simple; it's a tea length white dress. There's a blue ribbon, the same color as the bride's maids dresses, around her waist, tied in a bow in the back. Her shoes are light blue with a small heel.

When she reaches the altar, Gildarts Clive, a member of Fairy Tail I'd only met just a few days ago, who is apparently qualified to marry people, starts his part of the ceremony. At this point, I know all I have to do is stay quiet and watch.

Finally, the ceremony comes to a close with Natsu and Lucy reciting the vows they'd both written - I actually helped Natsu with his because he didn't want to sound like an idiot. Levy couldn't help him because she'd already been helping Lucy. They kiss each other and everyone claps, whistles, cheers, and hollers for joy.

With that, Natsu and Lucy walk together out of the church, followed by Gray and Levy, and the rest of us, relining up with our respective partner. I take Elfman's arm, squeezing it to remind him to slow down. He's so much bigger than me and I practically have to run to keep up with him.

Back in the changing room everyone changes into their new dresses and Evergreen redoes all of our hair, just letting all of the curls she made fall loosely. The dresses are the same blue, but they are a lot more casual and easier to move in for dancing. Levy's dress is still different than our dresses. Lucy changes into a knee length white dress and Evergreen puts a silver tiara that has light blue crystals on Lucy's head. Everyone is ready for dinner and dancing.


	55. Chapter 55

**Aki's Perspectiveeee**

* * *

We decided to rent out a venue in the Akane resort. There's a church especially for weddings that opens out onto one of the beaches. Blue Pegasus took care of decorating the space, and they did a flawless job. The sky is clear and the winds are calm. I almost can't believe how perfect this day is.

The reception is in a large venue overlooking the beach where we can watch the sun set from the dining room. Food is set up buffet style so everyone can eat as much as they like, and of course there'a an open limitless bar. Levy has already made Cana swear to go easy on it.

Mirajane set up the seating arrangements, and put Natsu and Lucy at the head table in the center, with the groomsmen and best man on Natsu's side, and the bride maids and maid of honor on Lucy's side. On the table to the right of the head table, a large wedding cake sits, waiting for its time to shine. On the other table, there are cards and gifts, though I'm not really sure what Natsu and Lucy could possibly do with them. I don't know how well earthland items transition to the spirit world.

Half way through dinner, I notice Gray stand up. "Hey, listen up!" Gray calls to get everyone's attention. "I gotta make a speech or whatever. I didn't really plan anything. n fact, I completely forgot I had to do this."

"Thanks, man. You're the best," Natsu says sarcastically.

"Stuff it," Gray retorts. He looks at Natsu and Lucy for a second before speaking again. "Ah, anyway. I've known Natsu since we were kids, since he showed up at Fairy Tail. We've competed ever since then because this idiot can't go a second without picking a fight with me. Even though he's a complete numb skull most of the time, this guy is always here for anyone who needs him. And he doesn't know how to give up. Those qualities in him have saved all of our asses at least once. I met Lucy when Natsu dragged her to Fairy Tail that one day. At first I thought it was weird; I figured Natsu only brought her because she was some cute girl he met and she was a fan of one of the guys in Fairy Tail. Like Loke or something. Remember when Loke used to be in that magazine as a most eligable bachelor? Man he acted like such a tool back then," Gray pauses so some people can laugh. I look over to the zodiac spirits sitting around their table. Leo's laughing along with everyone else. "Anyway. I kind of just thought she was just some girl, nothing special. man was I wrong. Lucy ended up being one of my best friends of Fairy Tail and a team mate who I couldn't imagine not working with on jobs and stuff. She's a good person, always forgiving and empathetic And she's smart too. She has a lot of the same blind guts and perserverence that Natsu has, which has made her the perfect partner for him. I have to admit I didn't notice that they were into each other at first, but then when they both announced it, it made a lot of sense to me. I can't think of two people who are more perfect for each other. Congrats Natsu and Lucy."

"Yep, it sounds like you just pulled that out of your ass," Natsu remarks. Despite the tone of his voice, he's beaming up at Gray, grateful for his speech.

After the noise dies down, Levy stands up to give her speech, which focuses more on specific stories and anecdotes about Natsu and Lucy, and she gives more insight to how she watched their relationship grow. She ends her speech with, "and that's exactly why I saw this coming from the start! I'm so happy for you two, Lu-chan and Natsu!"

After dinner we all move to another room for dancing. There are tables and couches along the walls to lounge around, but most of the room is a dance floor. There is a bar along the back wall where people can get snacks and drinks. The first dance is supposed to be the father-daughter dance, but since Lucy's dad is gone, Master Makarov will dance with her. For the mother and son dance, Natsu dances with Erza.

I watch the four of them dance and smile, it's so sweet how this guild is just one big family. Even though not many people are tied by blood, everyone has a connection to one another. It really is a beautiful thing, and it makes me wonder who I'll dance with, who will stand in for my father. Or who I'll even marry.

I shake the thought out of my head. It's way too soon for me to start thinking about that.

After the parent-child dances are over, Erza hands Natsu off to Lucy and Makarov hands Lucy to Natsu. Elfman takes my hand and along with the other four pairs, we join Natsu and Lucy on the dance floor. after about a minute, everyone else floods onto the dance floor. People start to switch partners: Levy hands Gray to Juvia and takes Gajeel in return, and I excuse myself from the dance floor, feeling tired. Erza and Jellal stay together and Mirajane and Laxus stay together until the end of the song.

At the bar, I find Cana talking with Gildarts. She takes one look at me and asks Kinana for a specific drink for me. "It's something pretty awesome that'll perk you right up. Can't have you passing out before the party gets good. We need you conscious so those two can stay earthland bound."

"They're both trying to use their own power too, but it's still taking a toll on my energy," I admit to her, accepting the drink from Kinana gratefully. "They've both been here all day, which is a lot longer than I'm used to."

"Lucy said she'd help you with stamina and spiritual power and stuff, right?" Cana asks, patting the seat next to her.

"And Natsu's helping me with fire magic and combat," I add. "I think he's trying to teach me _his_ magic. I don't think he realizes dragon slayer magic is more complicated than regular fire magic."

"They're helping you out a lot, huh?" Gildarts asks me.

"I know. I can't believe how good they are to me," I tell him between sips of my drink. Cana was right, I am starting to feel rejuvinated. "In return I promised them I'd help them with some things they never got to take care of. It's the least I can do. I'm helping Lucy restore her old estate, and I'm going to help Natsu find Igneel."

"Along with regular jobs and finding gate keys, huh?" Cana asks me, almost skeptical. "You're going to be pretty busy, Dandelion."

I stare at her in shocked silence. "My parents used to call me that… a dried up stem with all the fuzz ripped off," I tell her, hurt that she'd keep that nickname alive.

Cana laughs, "You're pretty dumb if you think that's what I meant! No! You remind me of a new dandelion, all bright orange or yellow, strong. Dandelions always come back, you know? They can grow anywhere. Don't you dare think any of us would call you a dried up weed, Aki." She takes a swig of her liquor. "I'm not the only one who calls you that, anyway. Natsu's been calling you Dandelion, too."

"Oh. Well anyway, don't worry about us. We can do it!" I assure her, letting her know I am 100% determined to take control of my life so I can become the best I can be for my friends and for myself.

* * *

**THE END.**

**Well, there will be epilogue chapters, like I said a few chapters back. But that's the end of the actual story.**

**The epilogues will come randomly. Like, whenever I feel like posting them. I think there will be five epilogue chapters? idk? Don't hold me to that. I said there'd be 52 chapters of this and there are 55. I lied because I don't know how to conclude things.**

**Oh well.**

**Ehhh, so I hope you all enjoyed that. Leave me some reviews and messages and let's conversate! because I love talking to people about writing and fandoms! 3**

**Check out some of my other stuff. I have a bunch of other fanfictions in the works, some of them are co written and others are just BSy blargs that I don't even know if they'll go anywhere but we'll see!**

**Message me if you have ideas for other fanfictions you'd like me to try. I will more than likely do it.**

**I like to write gore**

**and psychologically messed up**

**and... romance**

**and comedy**

**and pretty much anything I will write.**

**Anything.**

**Okay I'm gonna stop babbling now.**

**Peace out.**


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